


A Punishment to Change Your Life

by cazmalfoy



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - High School, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, M/M, Mention of Past Physical Abuse, Physical Disability, Pining Tony Stark, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony has a crush, mention of teenage pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-29 10:50:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 30,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16742581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cazmalfoy/pseuds/cazmalfoy
Summary: When Tony is caught selling essays to his fellow students, Howard sees his opportunity to teach his son a lesson.He immediately ships Tony off to a gym in Queens, where he can spend some time with under-privileged people and realise how good he has it.While there, Tony meets the mysterious older-man, Bucky Barnes, and is immediately infatuated.He has no idea what drove Bucky to the gym and how he ended up with only one arm, but he's determined to find out.*





	A Punishment to Change Your Life

**Author's Note:**

> I have tagged this is underage as Tony is 17, and Bucky is 20. Nothing is stated as happening between them while Tony is still underage, besides kissing, but if this bothers you - proceed with caution.
> 
> *

“That’ll be fifty bucks.”

In front of him, Clint Barton’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in surprise. “What? It was twenty-five last time!” he spluttered.

From where he was leaning against the bleachers, Tony Stark rolled his eyes. “Rates have gone up; call it ‘inflation’.” He took a final swig from the beer bottle in his hand and tossed it over the fence before he stood upright. “Look, it’s either fifty or nothing. Making your dumb ass seem intelligent is harder than it sounds.”

Tony couldn’t help laughing at the purple shade Clint’s anger was turning his face, which only served to make the other teenager angrier, amusing Tony even more.

“You’re a dick, Stark,” Clint snarled when he had finally regained the ability to speak. Regardless of his words, he still reached into his pocket and pulled out two more notes. 

“That’s me,” Tony agreed, holding his hand out and wiggling his fingers expectantly.

“You need to watch your back,” Clint cautioned slamming the bills into Tony’s outstretched palm along with the earlier twenty-five he’d already handed over. “One of these days, your cockiness is going to bite you in the ass. It’d be a shame if someone caught onto this little scheme you’ve got going.”

Tony chuckled and shrugged a shoulder. He finally relinquished the essay Clint had ordered four days earlier. “I’m sure it will,” he agreed. “And when it does, I’ll make sure I take every single one of you down with me,” he added, sliding the bills into one pocket and pulling cigarette packet from the other.

Clint didn’t immediately move and Tony raised a questioning eyebrow, wondering what the other teenager could want _now._

With a smirk he offered one to Clint, knowing full well that he didn’t smoke. He snorted when the other teenager huffed and turned on his heel, stalking away from him without another word.

“Another satisfied customer,” Tony muttered to himself, sticking a white stick between his lips and pulling out his lighter.

*

“Mr Stark!” Professor Hill’s voice broke through Tony’s daydreaming later that afternoon.

Tony started in surprise and finally managed to pull his gaze away from where he had been staring out of the window, daydreaming about nothing in particular, but definitely not paying attention to the class.

“Sorry, Professor, did you say something?” he asked, blinking rapidly and looking up at the middle-aged woman with large brown eyes, plastering a brilliant grin across his face.

Her lips pursed at his flippancy and Professor Hill let out an irritated puff. “Is there something in the school grounds more interesting than your education, Mr Stark?” she asked, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for an answer.

Around him, the class seemed to wince at her words. There weren’t many people in the school who didn’t know to not give Tony an opening to get out of class if they didn’t want him to take it.

“Actually,” Tony drawled, already starting to put his things into his backpack, “now that you mention it…” 

He didn’t say anything further, instead choosing to get to his feet and slinging his back pack over his shoulder. “Don’t let me interrupt class anymore, Professor,” he called over his shoulder as he headed for the door.

At the corner desk, Stephen Strange - the closest thing Tony had to a best friend at the school - rolled his eyes so hard Tony was sure he’d just seen his brain. But even someone as usually stoic as Stephen couldn’t disguise the amusement that was causing the corners of his mouth to twitch up in a smile.

“Mr Stark, get back here right this second!” Hill shouted after him, the suggestion no longer in her voice; she was insistent now. What a shame for her that Tony had never taken well to people giving him orders.

He didn’t look back as he pulled the door open. “Sorry, Professor. You said it yourself, there are more interesting things outside.”

Without another word, Tony stepped out into the hallway and was halfway to the parking lot and his car before Hill could stop him.

Tony knew it was stupid. He was going to be in _so much_ trouble for cutting class when he returned the following day and he was likely going to be in detention for at least a week, but right then, he didn’t care.

There wasn’t anything the school could teach Tony that he couldn’t learn out of a book, and it wasn’t like they were going to expel him anyway. Not with the amount of money his father had donated to the place over the years.

Nope, Silver Meadows Conservatory was stuck with Tony Stark. Whether or not either of them liked it.

*

It was still relatively early in the day - barely two in the afternoon - but Tony was already starting to regret his decision to leave the school.

Even though he would have been driven insane with boredom had he stayed at school, at least he wouldn’t have been on his own. He would have at least been able to convince Stephen or Bruce to keep him company while they avoided teachers.

Now, with all his friends still in school, Tony was more bored than ever.

He drove around for a while, trying to think of something more interesting to do; going home and admitting that he had left school early was never going to be an option. 

Just when he had been ready to do precisely that and take whatever punishment he would be inevitably given, his phone buzzed from where it had been sitting in the centre console and Tony grinned widely.

As soon as he saw the name on the message, the grin grew and Tony rapidly made the decision to change course, heading for a completely different destination. Rhodey might not know it, but his message had just given Tony the permission he needed to annoy _him_.

Not that Tony had ever needed permission to get under his Rhodey-Bear’s skin.

*

The Military Academy that James Rhodes attended was in North Manhattan and, even though it was the middle of the day, traffic was still a nightmare in the city. 

By the time Tony pulled up to the front gate of the school, he knew that classes had been over for a good thirty minutes.

The guard at the gate took longer scrutinising Tony’s ID than he normally did and Tony was positive that he was doing it on purpose. It wasn’t like it was the first time Tony had visited Rhodey - hell, it always seemed to be the same guard every time - so it wasn’t like he didn’t know who the teenager was.

After an hour - really it was probably only three minutes, tops - the guard hummed and handed the licence back to Tony. “Lot 365, to the right,” he instructed, pressing a button and lifting the barrier for Tony to pass through without incident.

Despite their social classes - Rhodey’s family were working class, while Tony’s were rich snobs - the two youngest children in the Rhodes and Stark families had been best friends from the moment they had met at a Police Officers and Families benefit held by the Starks when they had both been in single digits.

Rhodey had likened Tony to a leech several times over the years, and Tony knew that it was true. When he found something or someone he liked, he tended to not let go of it or them. He also had a bad habit of throwing money at people when he thought their interest in him was waning.

The car Tony had bought Rhodes as a birthday present less than four months ago, which he passed on his way from his own car, had been a sore point with the other man. Until Tony had told him the ‘real’ reason why he’d bought the car.

_“It’s for me really, Rhodey-Bear. What good is my reputation going to be when people find out my Honey Bun has been driving around in the biggest POS ever made?”_

He had been lying, obviously, but Rhodey had finally accepted the car so Tony didn’t think it was too much of a big deal.

Rhodey’s dorm room was on the third floor of the Dugan building and Tony knew his way there by heart. But that didn’t stop him from getting distracted by the hot men in uniform twice. Okay, maybe three times, but two of them were standing together, so it didn’t count.

The door was unlocked when he reached it, and Tony didn’t bother to knock on Rhodey’s door before throwing it open. “Honey, I’m home!” he declared at the top of his lungs.

Rhodey, who was sitting at the desk by the window with his back to the door, whirled around in surprise at the intrusion. 

When he saw Tony in the open doorway his posture relaxed somewhat, even as he let out an exasperated sigh. 

“What are you doing here?” he questioned suspiciously as he got to his feet and stepped around Tony to close the door. 

A pout appeared on Tony’s face which only served to make Rhodey look even more irritated, and make Tony chuckle maniacally. “What, I can’t visit my Rhodey-Bear at all now?”

Rhodey rolled his eyes but, like Stephen earlier, couldn’t suppress the smile. “Classes here have only just finished, Tones. I _know_ Silver Meadows finish at the same time and there’s no way you could have gotten here so soon. That means you ducked out of school early,” he surmised.

Tony shifted and looked away from his best friend, knowing that he looked every bit as guilty as he was. Rhodey was one of the few people he couldn’t look in the eye and lie to.

The other teenager sighed as he realised why Tony was at the school so early in the day. “What time did you last until?” he asked. There was no judgement in his tone, and Tony knew that right there was the reason he loved the other teenager with all his heart.

“Period after lunch,” Tony admitted. 

Not that he was fooling Rhodey; they knew each other far too well for that. “Jesus, Tony!” he exclaimed, running a hand over his buzzed hair. “You’re going to get expelled one of these days if you’re not careful.”

Tony snorted as he threw himself down on the bed, grunting when he felt how hard the mattress was. “Yeah, right,” he retorted. “Sheesh, how do you sleep on this?” he muttered, shifting around uncomfortably on the bed.

Rhodey grinned. “The fancy life has made you soft. That’s a normal mattress.”

“There’s nothing normal about it,” Tony retorted, continuing to find a position that was comfortable. “You could at least let me buy you a better one…”

Rhodey raised an eyebrow but didn’t actually speak in response to Tony’s words. He didn’t need to for Tony to know what he was thinking.

“I know, I know,” Tony waved a hand, brushing away the look Rhodey was giving him, “I’m not buying your friendship, but seriously this thing is crap.”

The smile Rhodey had been giving him turned affectionate and he shook his head. “Did you come all this way to criticise my sleeping arrangements?” 

“Well, now that you mention it…” Tony grinned at the eye-roll, but turned serious once more. Or at least, as serious as Tony Stark ever got. “I’m bored, so I figured ‘Who better than my Honey Bun to keep me entertained?’.”

Rhodey just sighed and closed his eyes.

*

It was getting dark when Tony arrived back at Stark Manor, but he didn’t care. He’d been out much later before, and would be in the future. Hell, he’d only left Rhodey’s when he did because he knew the other teenager had school work to do and actually cared about his education.

Not that Tony didn’t _care_ about his _;_ he was just bored with school and didn’t see why he had to go when he didn’t want to. The Starks were rich, anyway and Tony was going to inherit it all at some point; it wasn’t like he’d need to work a day in his life if he didn’t want to.

Parking haphazardly in the space that had been designated ‘his’, Tony stomped up the stones stairs that lead to the house. 

Before he had even reached it, the door opened and revealed a nervous looking Edwin Jarvis.

Tony frowned, immediately knowing that something was up. He knew Jarvis was a worrier - hell, he spent more time worrying about Tony than Howard did - but there was something different about his expression this time. 

This wasn’t worry about Tony being late home from school, this was something worse.

Something more severe was going on. The last time Tony had seen an expression like _this,_ his mother had just been taken into hospital for what would be the final time before the cancer claimed her life.

“You okay?” Tony asked, stepping through the open door and closing it behind him, already dreading what the answer would be.

Jarvis looked nervously down the corridor, before taking hold of Tony’s elbow and pulling him into one of the alcoves. “Did you skip school this afternoon?” 

He didn’t sound angry; he knew it wasn’t the first time that Tony had skipped school, and it was highly likely to be the last.

Tony couldn’t bring himself to lie to him. He never had been able to, for as long as Tony had been able to speak. Instead, he nodded his head. “School was boring; I couldn’t concentrate. I’ve been to see Rhodey, and we…”

He broke off, realising something as dread began to settle in his stomach. “How did you know?” Tony asked nervously. “They didn’t…”

Tony didn’t need to finish his thought because Jarvis knew exactly what he was going to say. Gravely, the British man nodded his head. “The school called a few hours ago. Before I could answer the phone, your father… He took the call in his office, and I haven’t seen him since.”

The teenager swallowed nervously and ran a hand over his head. It wasn’t the first time the school had called home, but Jarvis had always been able to intercept the phone calls before news of them reached Howard.

The same Howard who was probably still waiting for him in this office. Who could give Tony more of a punishment than the school could ever concoct.

“Tony, perhaps you should head up to your room,” Jarvis suggested, trying to steer the teenager in the direction of the staircase, but Tony didn’t move from where he was standing.

“What’s the point, Jarv?” he asked with a shrug of his shoulders. “He already knows; no point in delaying the inevitable and pissing him off even more.”

A regretful look appeared on Jarvis’s face and he gave Tony’s elbow a gentle squeeze. “I’m sorry,” the butler whispered.

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Tony replied firmly. “You’ve been keeping too many of my secrets for too long. Something was bound to come out eventually.” He pressed a kiss against Jarvis’s cheek, before straightening up and taking a deep breath to steady the nerves he was trying to not show.

Howard’s office overlooked the front gates of the house, and he would have seen Tony’s car pull into the driveway. 

Tony knew he couldn’t delay the inevitable for much longer.

His father was waiting for him, and if there was one thing Howard Stark detested over anything else, it was being made to wait.

*

Howard’s office wasn’t somewhere Tony ever wanted to find himself. He hated every square inch of the space and always had.

In the centre of the room, behind the large mahogany desk, Howard sat in a high-backed chair, waiting for his son with a faux-patient expression on his face. 

An expression which gave away how angry he really was; Stark men were not known for their patience.

When his father didn’t speak, Tony made to sit in the chair on the opposite side of the desk - his usual location when he was in for a scolding from the patriarch.

“Stay,” Howard ordered, making the teenager freeze on the spot. 

There was a retort on the tip of his tongue about not being a dog, but Tony’s sense of self-preservation kicked in; contrary to what Rhodey said, he did have one, thankyouverymuch.

Occasionally.

Biting his tongue, Tony remained standing in the centre of the room, his hands moving automatically behind his back.

_Like a fucking soldier._

Despite how many years had passed since his father’s short career in the military, there was things that the other man hadn’t left behind. His command of the room, and ability to reduce his own son to nothing more than a soldier, were only two of those things.

“I had an interesting conversation with Principal Pierce this afternoon,” Howard stated, leaning back in his chair and running the tips of his fingers over the arms of the chair.

Tony couldn’t stop the surprise from showing on his face. Despite the number of times he’d skipped class in the past, the school’s principal had never intervened with something the teachers could deal with.

“I want to know why,” Howard ordered. Because that’s what he did. He never _asked_ Tony to do something; he either ordered, or ignored him completely. There was no middle ground.

Tony also knew better than to ignore the other man when he was being addressed directly. 

“History is boring,” he began, trying to choose his words carefully; the last thing he needed was to incriminate himself further. “I wasn’t planning on leaving school, but then Professor Hill…” He trailed off when Howard raised a hand.

“I’m not talking about the skipping class, Anthony,” he said, making Tony cringe inwardly. Howard was one of the only people who called him by his full name and he hated it every single time.

All thoughts disappeared out of Tony’s head at those words. What else could Howard be talking about? There was nothing else that Tony had done which broke his father’s rules that day. Not that Howard usually needed that as excuse, but still…

When he saw that Tony wasn’t going to speak, Howard grabbed several sheets of faxed paper from the desk and held them out. 

Tony didn’t need to see what they were to know. He had been caught. After almost four years, the gig was up and he was going down in flames.

With shaking hands Tony would have liked, he took the papers from his father. Just as he had thought, they were copies of essays _he_ had written, which had been submitted by other students.

“Where did these come from?” Tony asked, trying to sound like he wasn’t shaking in his sneakers. 

His father was going to kill him. He’d always been told that Stark men weren’t cheats.

_But apparently they help others to cheat._

“A random locker search this afternoon turned up some very _interesting_ things,” Howard replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

If Tony hadn’t been feeling like he could throw up he would have rolled his eyes. There was no such thing as a ‘random’ search, not of school lockers, and especially not when they turned up something so incriminating.

Someone had to have snitched on him, and when Tony found out who it was, he was going to kill them. 

If he wasn’t dead himself by then, of course.

First he would start with Barton…

Tony mentally shook himself to focus on his father when Howard started speaking again. The last thing he needed was to be caught not paying attention. 

“How long has this been going on?” Howard demanded.

While Tony had never been able to lie to Jarvis, Tony had spent his entire life lying to his father. He sure as hell didn’t see any reason why he should start telling the other man the truth now. Especially not when he was going to get his ass kicked either way.

“About a year,” he replied, trying to sound more confident than he felt as he handed the papers back to Howard.

Fury crossed over Howard’s face and Tony was pretty sure that he could tell he was lying to him. To Tony’s surprise, he didn’t call him on his bullshit. Instead he just placed the documents back on the desk in front of him.

“Alexander and I were speaking, and I managed to convince him to not expel you,” Howard said and Tony fought to not roll his eyes. He knew what those words meant; Howard had thrown more money at the school until they’d had no choice but to keep Tony on as a pupil.

“Instead, Alexander agreed to allow me to administer your punishment myself,” Howard continued.

Tony felt his blood run cold at the words and he had to fight to stop his face from reflecting what he was feeling. 

With no permission from him, thoughts of a previous ‘punishment’ from his father flittered across his brain; a belt, the smell of stale alcohol and words that stung more than any bruise ever could.

When Howard got to his feet, Tony couldn’t help jumping in terror as he anticipated the pain that was going to follow such an action.

Instead of moving over to Tony, Howard stopped in front of the fireplace. The only place in the house where there was a picture of Tony’s mother, Maria. That Howard knew about, at least; there was no need for him to know about the hundred or so photos Tony had stashed away in his room.

“Your mother’s charity is running short on volunteers,” Howard said, the tone of his voice almost conversational as he rang his fingers around the black of the photo frame.

Tony knew that; of course he knew that. 

The Maria Carbonell Charitable Relief had been established before Tony had been born, and provided aid for the lesser well off in society. The charity had been struggling to find people to help since Maria’s passing, and it was getting more difficult with each passing year.

“Alexander and I agreed that an after school program would be beneficial for you. There’s a gymnasium in Queens that has been part of the Trust for almost ten years. I think that’ll be the perfect place for you.”

Tony tried to stop himself - goddamn it, he tried so _fucking_ hard - but a laugh escaped his mouth before he could stop himself. A gym? In Queens? Did his father seriously not know him well enough to know what he would rather clean the bathrooms at school with a toothbrush each day?

Howard raised an eyebrow at Tony’s reaction, and a dark smirk crossed his face. “That’s exactly the reaction I knew you would have,” he stated, smoothing his grey hair down with one hand. “Maybe this whole experience will make you realise how lucky you are to have this life, and will be a reminder of what you could _lose_ with just a flick of my pen.”

Without another word, Howard waved a hand to dismiss Tony, before he turned his back on the teenager.

Tony remained where he was standing for a good two minutes, before he shook himself and backed out of the room, letting the door fall closed behind him.

Jarvis was waiting in the corridor outside, trying to not make it obvious he had been trying to eavesdrop; not that he would have been able to. The doors in the Manor were far too thick for that - Tony had learnt that a long time ago.

“What did he say?” the older man asked, sounding like he was terrified to even think of what the answer could be.

At first Tony didn’t reply; too busy trying to wrap his head around what had just happened. 

When he did eventually speak, it was only to murmur, “I think he just threatened to disown me.”

*

Three days later, Tony had almost convinced himself that Howard had forgotten about his punishment. Certainly it hadn’t been mentioned since, but that might have just been because Howard was rarely in the same room as his son.

_Nothing new there, then._

School had been hell for Tony, and it wasn’t even because the teachers were looking at him in suspicion. His classmates were acting like he was their decorated war hero, just returned from battle with a truck load of war stories.

A few people were avoiding him in ways that raised Tony’s suspicions immediately, mainly Clint and Pietro Maximoff. Both of whom had been Tony’s best two customers. 

When Tony had realised this, Stephen had been quick to insist that they were in isolation since they had been caught openly cheating. 

The words from his friend had eased Tony’s anger at being caught, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to know who it had been. He also knew that he couldn’t do any of the hard work himself and still keep a cool head. He needed someone to investigate under the radar of teachers.

Which was where Bruce and Stephen came into the equation. Both of them had been reluctant to take up the mantle of consulting detectives, but they eventually relented after hours of Tony’s incessant badgering.

It was on the fourth morning that Tony realised Howard hadn’t forgotten a thing and had simply been biding his time before shattering the illusion of control Tony had over his life.

The red flag was raised when Howard joined them for breakfast.

For the last six years, breakfast had been a quiet time that Tony and Jarvis shared before either of them started their days in earnest. To have Howard intrude on that now made Tony more irritated than it was wise to show.

“They’ll be expecting you at the gym straight away when school ends,” Howard said, not looking up from where he was studying the business pages of the New York Times.

Tony’s eyes widened in surprise and he opened his mouth to say something - he didn’t know _what_ , but he needed to vent somehow. Before he could, he saw Jarvis shaking his head out of the corner of his eye and immediately knew that saying anything would be both foolish and a waste of time.

Instead, he lowered his head and focused on the plate in front of him. “Yes, Sir,” he murmured.

Later, when Howard had finally gotten bored of pretending and excused himself, Tony turned to Jarvis with a furious expression. “Why didn’t you let me say anything? I can’t believe he’s doing this to me!” He groaned, slumping forward and burying his face in his hands.

Jarvis frowned and stepped closer to the teenager, placing his hands on his shoulders. “You and I both know that your father would have been much worse with his punishment if you had stood up to him, Tony,” he whispered.

From beneath from his hands, Tony groaned at the words and Jarvis chuckled. “Come on,” he encouraged, pressing a kiss against Tony’s hair. “The sooner you get there, the sooner you can come home.”

 *

For the first time in longer than Tony could remember, the school day flew past and before he knew it, last period was about to finish.

When Tony had texted him to complain that his punishment was creeping up on him, Rhodey had just laughed and told him that it was the universe’s way of paying him back for helping people cheat.

Tony had just sent him a picture of his middle finger in response.

Throughout the day, Tony had been trying to think of excuses to get out of going to the Gym. At first he had started with small things like getting lost on the way there, but when he had reached the idea of throwing himself down the stairs and breaking his ankle, he knew he was being ridiculous.

It was two hours at a gym, for crying out loud. Sure it was so far out of his comfort zone that it wasn’t funny, but how bad could it be?

When the last bell rang Tony knew that he couldn’t delay the inevitable. It was either suck it up and take his punishment, or deal with whatever else Howard wanted to throw in his direction.

_Gym it is_.

Tony had never been to Queens - why would he when everything he needed was in Manhattan - and only had a vague idea how to get there. Thankfully his car was the newest model and came pre-fitted with a state-of-the-art GPS.

Just one of many reasons why his idea to get lost would never fly with Howard.

As he emerged from the Queens Midtown tunnel, Tony could feel anxiety build up in his chest. He should have insisted that Stephen or Rhodey go with him. Why he did he have to been so noble that he wasn’t willing to inflict his punishment on his friends?

It wasn’t fair.

The address Howard had given him was in Ridgeway, and as soon as he turned onto the street, Tony knew he was somewhere he didn’t belong.

He was in the middle of a residential street, only these houses didn’t look like anything Tony had seen outside of TV shows and presentations at charity benefits.

Almost every person he saw, young and old, turned to watch him as he passed and Tony couldn’t help swallowing nervously, before he berated himself. These people didn’t know him, what right did they have to judge him, he asked himself.

‘You have reached your destination.’

Tony’s attention was snapped back to the present and he looked around him, trying to see what the GPS obviously could that he couldn’t.

To the left sat a bunch of townhouses, and to the right were a laundromat and a dollar store. There wasn’t a gym in sight.

He glanced back at the GPS, trying to figure out where he had gone wrong, but stopped when he saw that he was exactly where he was supposed to be.

Then where the hell was this gym?

Letting out a long suffering sigh, Tony pulled his car into the only parking space he could find at the front of the laundromat and pulled out his phone.

“Okay, Google,” he murmured to himself. “Don’t let me down now…”

Apparently, there _was_ a gym at the address Tony was currently trying to find, he found out after a few taps on his smart phone’s screen. And it was behind the laundromat and store.

“Because why would you make things easy to find?” Tony grumbled, shaking his head as he shut off the engine. 

It was still light enough that he didn’t feel too nervous walking from the vehicle to the building, but he might have walked a little faster than normal. Just in case.

This time when Tony rounded the corner behind the laundromat, he saw exactly what Google had promised him. Above the open door, in paint that was peeling and faded _everywhere,_ the sign declared the building, ‘Wolves Fitness Gym’.

_Now or never, Stark_.

Tony took a deep breath and, trying to ignore the desire to leave and never come back, he took a step inside the gym.

*

Tony had never felt more underprepared for anything in his life.

The first thing that hit him as he stepped inside was the _smell_. Tony had only ever been in the gym at school, but there had always been air filtration systems to catch the smells that were generated when people worked out.

This place had no system so instead, all Tony could smell was leather, sweat, and the air freshener which was clearly being used in an attempt to mask the smell.

“You Tony Stark?” a voice asked abruptly, making Tony jump in surprise.

_Shit, I hope I didn’t squeal out loud_!

He turned to see a tall man with a black eye-patch step out of the shadows.

“Yeah,” Tony answered warily.

The man hummed for a second, before extending his hand to Tony. “Nick Fury,” he introduced himself, shaking Tony’s hand once before releasing it. “They said they were sending another one of you white boys.”

Tony’s mouth fell open in surprise at the words, even as he felt his face flush. He knew his mother’s trust wasn’t technically in the Stark name, but how did this guy seriously not know who he was.

Almost as though he was reading Tony’s mind, Fury rolled his eye. “I know exactly who you are, Mr Stark,” he retorted. “I just don’t care. And I think you’ll find that most of the kids here don’t, either.”

Without another word, Fury led Tony through the second set of doors and if Tony thought the smell of sweat had been strong before, he was in no way prepared for it when they entered the gym proper.

Over his shoulder, Fury threw him a smirk. “You get used to the smell, don’t worry about.”

Tony bit back the retort that he wasn’t planning on sticking around for long enough _to_ get used to it. He didn’t want to piss the guy off so soon. The last thing he wanted was for Howard to find out that Tony had been kicked out of the gym within ten minutes of arriving.

“Parker!” Fury yelled, making both Tony and the three people closest to them jump. 

Across the room, where the weights were stacked up against a wall, a brunet teenager turned around with a surprised look on his face. When he realised it was Fury who had bellowed, he quickly abandoned what he had been doing and ran over.

“Sorry, Director Fury,” Parker exclaimed, tripping over himself as he came to a stop in front of Tony and Fury. “Is there something I can help you with?”

Fury let out a long suffering sigh. “How many times do I have to tell you? I ain’t no Director, kid.”

A blush coloured Parker’s cheeks. “Sorry, Director,” he replied automatically before blushing even more when he realised what he’d said.

Clearly seeing that they weren’t going to get anywhere, Fury turned his attention back to Tony and likely the reason why he had called Parker over. “This is Tony Stark. He’s going to be spending a few nights a week with us for a while. You okay showing him the ropes?”

Parker, whose eyes had gone wide the second Fury had said Tony’s name, nodded mutely.

Fury didn’t seem too bothered by Parker’s absolute terror (or hero worship, it was hard to tell). He turned to Tony and muttered, “Peter will help you get settled in. If you need anything, my door is always locked.”

Without another word, Fury turned on his heel and stalked away from them. Together the pair watched Fury cross the room, a flurry of his leather coat following him as he made his way up a metal staircase and disappeared into his office.

As soon as the door closed behind Fury, Peter snapped out of his daze and he turned to Tony, his eyes still wide as saucers.

“Are you really Tony Stark?” he asked, awe in his voice. Tony nodded his head slowly, trying to decide how this kid could have even heard about him. “Like _the_ Tony Stark? Invented your own robot when you were still in single digits. _That_ Tony Stark?”

This time it was Tony’s eyes to go wide. “How could you even know that?” he blurted out.

Peter grinned bashfully. “I read your thesis about the laws of robotics being more complex than Asimov’s original theory suggested.” He said the words as if they were as simple as stating that he had read the sports section.

“You… what? That was published at doctorate level.” It was one of Tony’s greater accomplishments, publishing a paper that most older students would struggle with. “How old are you?” he spluttered. 

“Fourteen,” Peter replied as though he hadn’t just made Tony’s brain short-circuit. When Tony didn’t speak, he added, “Come on, I’ll show you around.”

Without waiting for a further response from Tony, who was still trying to get his brain to reboot, Peter grabbed hold of Tony’s wrist and began dragging him around the area.

“This is obviously where we practise boxing,” Peter said, waving a hand in the direction of the boxing ring in the centre of the room. “Director Fury holds competitions among the guys to see who can land the most clean punches in a month. I think…”

Tony had a feeling that this kid was going to be hard to keep on one topic. He reminded Tony of himself in that habit; he too had a habit of bouncing from one topic to another. Especially if he was feeling particularly nervous.

Lucky for Tony, them being so similar meant that he knew exactly what to do to cut off the tirade before it began in earnest. 

Change the subject.

“Why do you call him Director Fury?” he asked, making Peter stop abruptly mid-word.

For a moment Peter didn’t respond as he tried to catch up with the change of subject, before he dove into an equally excitable response. “The coat; he never takes it off. Not even in summer. Don’t you think with that and the eye-patch he looks like a spy?”

Tony didn’t think that _at all_. He wasn’t sure what a spy would look like, but surely that was the point. If everyone knew what a spy was supposed to be appear like, they won’t be very good at their job, would they?

Instead of responding and giving Peter the invitation to dive into an in-depth discussion about James Bond and other spies, Tony turned his attention to the area around him.

There were places that he imagined were typical of gyms; weights, punching bags, skipping ropes, rowing machines. Seriously, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

This was going to be a piece of cake.

“Is it normally this quiet?” Tony asked. He would have expected there to be more people, and the ones that were there looked to be mostly kids from where Tony was standing.

Peter glanced around, mentally counting how many people there were, before shrugging his shoulders. “It gets busier on Fridays, but yeah, this is pretty much it. Fury says he prefers it this way; less irritating brats to annoy him.”

Tony raised an eyebrow at the harsh words from the younger teenager and Peter grinned. “His words, not mine.”

Together, they moved so they could survey the majority of the room, and Peter began pointing people out.

In the ring that dominated the centre of the gym were a teenager who looked to be Tony’s age, he was facing off against an older man with shoulder length blond hair.

Peter introduced the pair of them as Sam and Thor respectively.

A tall, dark haired teenager sitting atop an exercise bike was announced to be Loki, who was apparently Thor’s younger brother, even if Tony struggled to see _any_ kind of familiar resemblance there.

Ned was Peter’s best friend, and the final person Peter introduced him to, before he got distracted by something or other; Tony didn’t have a hope in following his train of thought, even if he wanted to.

Listening to Peter and Ned talk about… whatever it was, Tony quickly found his attention drifting. There were a few people who seemed like they were older than Tony, and he was guessing Peter didn’t know who they were since he’d made no effort to introduce them.

There were, however, two people that Peter had forgotten to mention. 

“Hey, kid?” Tony called, interrupting the other teenagers mid-debate about what sounded suspiciously like Star Wars. 

Peter hummed and pulled his attention away from Ned, raising an eyebrow as he looked at Tony curiously. 

“I think you forgot someone,” Tony said, nodding across the room to where the punching bags were located.

The fourteen-year old frowned and followed Tony’s gaze. “Oh,” he whispered when he realised that Tony was correct and there was someone he had missed during his introductions. “That’s Steve,” he said simply.

Peter pointed to a man who was even shorter than him. He didn’t look like he could even pick up the lightest weight, never mind throw a punch at the bag he was standing beside.

But that wasn’t where Tony’s traitorous eyes stayed. Instead they wandered over to the man Steve was talking to; or least trying to. Whoever the other man was, was doing his hardest to ignore him.

“What about Mr Tall, Dark and Broody over there?” Tony asked, not able to drag his eyes away from the figure who was standing with his back to him.

Peter frowned and followed his gaze. “Oh, that’s Bucky,” he replied easily with a wave of his hand. “He doesn’t like to be bothered. Pretty much only talks to Steve and Fury.” He shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention back to Ned.

_There’s no way Bucky is his real name. What the hell kinda name is_ Bucky _anyway?_

Abruptly, as though he could sense someone’s eyes on him, Bucky turned around. Beside him, Steve looked confused at the sudden action, but Bucky ignored him as he scanned the room.

When their eyes met, Tony found his breath catching in his throat. There was no way he should be able to tell from across the room, but Tony was sure that he had never seen anything so beautiful. 

Bucky held his gaze for another few seconds, before scowling and turning away from Tony. He ignored whatever Steve had just said and stalked over to where there was a towel and water bottle waiting for him.

Beside him, Tony could sense that Peter was trying to talk to him, but he couldn’t hear a word. He couldn’t divert his attention away from the man - there was no way he was a teenager - across the room. 

Bucky was wearing a tight black wife beater, coupled with a pair of black shorts which were tighter than any law should allow them to be. There was a bead of sweat dripping down from his forehead that Tony desperately wanted to catch on his tongue.

_How the hell can you see_ that _from across the room, you pervert?_

Tony remained motionless and silent until Bucky gathered his things and headed out of the gym with Steve hot on his heels. At the door, he paused and threw a look over his shoulder before disappearing.

Tony liked to think that he was looking at _him_ , but he knew better than to assume that a stranger would want to fuck him as bad as he wanted to be taken by Bucky at that moment. He wanted to be held in those glorious arms and….

His thoughts came to a screeching halt as he realised something he couldn’t believe he had missed. Then he felt like an idiot for not realising immediately. _Then_ he started berating himself for acting like it actually made Bucky any less hot.

Mostly Tony was just amazed that he hadn’t realised immediately that Bucky only had one arm.

*

The rest of the two hours Tony had planned to stay at the gym flew by.

He had stuck to Peter’s side for most of the time, which the fourteen year old didn’t seem to mind one bit. In fact, he looked over the moon that Tony Stark was now his friend.

The older teenager hadn’t had the heart to correct him, so it looked like he had a new friend out of this whole ordeal.

Bucky and his friend Steve didn’t come back, but Tony had met enough other people that he was sufficiently distracted from thoughts of Bucky.

_Until I get home, at least_.

There was Loki, a dark haired teenager with a quick wit and a sharp tongue to match. He was Tony’s age and was apparently only there as part of some kind of community service. Tony didn’t know what he had done and Loki hadn’t elaborated, but after seeing him verbally sparring with this big brother (adopted, he had been told) Tony had decided he didn’t want to know.

Just like he didn’t want to get on Loki’s bad side.

Sam and Scott were two of the other people Peter introduced him to, but they didn’t really talk much. Sam was too busy on the treadmill to keep up idle chitchat, and Scott seemed to be freaking out about a girl who may, or may not, be pregnant with his child.

It all seemed very heavy for a sixteen year old, so Tony had quickly that he would leave him alone and get through the rest of the evening with his head down.

There were other people in the gym, but Peter had been quick to advise that he didn’t know who they were. It was a public gym that the people in the neighbourhood could use, it just happened to be used as a hang out for a bunch of mis-fit teens.

By the time a very talkative Peter had taken Tony through the introductions, his self-mandated two hours was almost up.

“You’re coming back again though, right?” Peter asked when Tony had told him he would be heading home.

Tony didn’t want to - he really didn’t - but even he knew that there was no way Howard would be satisfied with one day. Instead of telling Peter that he wouldn’t dare, Tony nodded his head stiffly.

A grin broke out on Peter’s face and he bounced excitedly on the balls of his feet. “I thought you would be,” he said. “It would be weird community service to only do a couple of hours, and be done with it.”

“Whoa!” Tony exclaimed, holding his hand up. “Community service? Who said anything about that?” he demanded, brown eyes narrowing in a glare.

Peter frowned and looked at Tony as though he had just grown two heads. “Isn’t that why you’re here?” he asked, the confusion obvious in his voice. “The only reason why anyone comes here is because it’s either court mandated or they have nowhere else to go.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Which is the reason why you’re here?” he challenged, fully expecting Peter to back down and not give him a response.

He felt a bolt of surprise shoot through him when Peter actually answered with, “I don’t have anywhere else to be while Aunt May is at work.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Why _are_ you here then, if it’s not Community Service?”

_Lie. Make something up. Tell him anything but the truth._

Tony’s inner monologue was telling him to spin the kid some bullshit story that wasn’t as pathetic as being busted for cheating, but he couldn’t do it. The way the kid looked at him - as though Tony had hung the moon and the stars - was melting through every single wall Tony had built up over his seventeen years at an alarming rate.

“I got caught writing papers and selling them to other students,” he replied. Well, the last part was technically a lie; no one had found out he’d been selling the papers but it made the whole thing seem more badass, Tony thought.

If he hadn’t been there to witness it, Tony would have claimed it was impossible, but Peter’s eyes widened at his admission.

“Wow! Really?” Tony nodded his head. “What did you need the money for?” he asked with a frown.

Tony let out a startled laugh at the question. No one had ever questioned why the richest kid in the school was selling answers, and he honestly didn’t know why. “No idea, kid,” he replied, ruffling Peter’s dark hair without thinking about it. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.”

Peter chuckled along with him and nodded his head. “I get that,” he murmured. Tony wondered what Peter had ever done that seemed like it could be good, before dismissed the question that was on the tip of his tongue.

It was none of his business and he didn’t want to get anymore attached to this kid than he already was. He was three years older than him, and it was weird. Plus, Tony wasn’t planning on being there longer than the month Howard was forcing on him, anyway.

“I’ll see you in a couple of days, kid,” Tony murmured, pulling out his keys as he made his way out of the building.

It was darker than he had anticipated it would be. The lack of windows in the main gym had tricked him into thinking it was still daylight outside.

Not wanting to spend more time on the street than he had to, Tony hustled past the laundromat to where he had parked his car. Now that he was away from Peter’s enthusiasm, all he wanted to do was go home and…

“You’re fucking kidding me!” Tony exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air as he drew closer to the car.

All over the pavement were small cubes of glass where the passenger window had been smashed to smithereens. 

Tony glanced around him, trying to see who had done the damage but it was futile. Whoever had done it would be long gone by now, there was no doubt about that.

Heaving a sigh, Tony moved around the car and unlocked the door, before sliding into the driver’s seat. He was pissed off, of course he was, but there was no point in dwelling on it. He knew without even looking that the laundromat would have no CCTV, and even if they did, there was no way anyone was going to snitch on their neighbours to an outsider.

Tony just had to consider himself lucky that his insurance would cover the cost of a broken window, and that he wasn’t on Howard’s policy.

A broken window would be the least of Tony’s worries if Howard found out what had happened; he was sure the Stark patriarch would find a way to blame Tony for what had happened.

With a heavy sigh, Tony started the engine and reached over to program the GPS to take him home.

Only to find that the GPS was missing from where it had been built into the console on the dash.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he repeated, slamming his hand hard against the steering wheel.

_I fucking hate Queens._

*

When Tony arrived home - thank _god_ for smart phones and Google maps - he wasn’t surprised to find that Howard’s car was missing from the driveway. He was probably out screwing some whore and defiling Maria’s memory in any way he could.

What _did_ surprise him, however, was Rhodey’s car parked in front of the house. 

It was the middle of the week and there was no way Rhodey was allowed off school grounds to visit Tony just because his best friend’d had a shit day.

Tony pushed those thoughts aside for the minute as he parked the car. Normally he would have just dumped it as though it had been stolen, but that would no doubt draw Howard’s attention to the missing window.

Instead, he drove a little further down the sweeping driveway and made sure to park at the side of the garage, under the shade of a large tree his mother had arranged to be imported from the south.

The walk back to the house took longer than Tony was used to, but it gave him time to reflect on what had happened and what he had seen that afternoon.

Tony had been surprised to find out that the gym was mostly for wayward strays and delinquents, but at the same time he knew he shouldn’t be. People like Peter, Thor and Loki were the very reason Maria had set up the charity in the first place.

To give people who society had abandoned a place where they could feel like themselves.

Not for the first time since leaving the gym, Tony’s thoughts drifted back to Bucky. 

Only it wasn’t just the way those thighs would feel between his legs. 

Sure, he didn’t care that the other man only had one arm, but there was a part of Tony was desperate to know what had happened. What had driven him to step through the Wolves’ gym doors.

Tony was curious by nature. He liked to think of it as one of his better qualities, even though most people would probably argue otherwise. He needed to know things, and right then the thing that was occupying his thoughts was the enigma that was Bucky.

He didn’t even know his real, _full_ , name. Tony refused to believe that any parent would be cruel enough to call their child _Bucky._ But every time he had tried to ask Peter, the excitable young man had gotten distracted and Tony was left without answers.

Since Howard was out, Tony knew there was only one place he would find his Rhodey-Bear and headed straight down the corridor.

Just as he had expected, Rhodey was sitting at the small table in the kitchen while Jarvis moved about on the other side of the room.

He looked up and smirked when he saw Tony standing in the doorway. “Hey, Tones, how was life as a regular joe?” he asked, not even trying to keep the amusement out of his voice.

Tony levelled him with a glare before he slumped into the chair opposite his best friend. “Oh god, Rhodey, it was awful,” he whined, running a hand over his head. “It smelt _so_ much. All that sweat and poverty. I’m going to die.”

He yelped when he felt Jarvis swat him lightly on the back of his head. “What was that for?” he demanded, rubbing the spot with a pout even though it didn’t hurt at all.

Jarvis just rolled his eyes and deposited a plate in front of him. It wasn’t much - a couple of sandwiches, fries and some chips - but it was enough to make Tony realise he hadn’t eaten anything since lunch.

“Okay, fine, it wasn’t _that_ bad,” Tony admitted, shoving a fry into his mouth and groaning at the taste that exploded on his tongue; he had no idea what made Jarvis’s fries so different, but they were his _favourite_. “Well, at least it wasn’t until I realised some douche had smashed my window and stolen my GPS.”

Both Rhodey and Jarvis froze in horror at his words, and they shared a concerned look before turning back to Tony in unison. “What? Tones, please tell me you reported it to the police,” Rhodey begged.

Tony rolled his eyes. “What’s the point? It’s only a GPS and a sheet of glass. Not like they stole my actual _car_.”

Rhodey huffed and threw Jarvis a pleading look, silently begging him to talk some sense into Tony. Unfortunately for Rhodey, Tony knew that Jarvis would be on his side.

“Where is the car now?” Jarvis asked softly, making Tony grin.

God bless him for knowing Tony as well as he did. “By mom’s tree. I figured Howard won’t see it there.”

Jarvis pursed his lips at Tony’s use of his father’s name but didn’t call him out on it. “I will take it to the garage to be repaired tomorrow,” he assured the teenager. 

Tony grinned widely. “Thanks, Jarv,” he replied sincerely. “Let me know how much it’s gonna cost and I’ll transfer it over.” He took a larger than acceptable bite of his sandwich. “I think I’m gonna need another car,” he decided through the ham, cheese and mayo in his mouth.

The butler screwed up his nose at Tony’s manners. “I wish you wouldn’t do that,” he muttered, handing Tony a napkin to clean up the mess he had made.

Rhodey nodded in agreement with Jarvis. “Why do you need another car? You have at least two you can use while this one gets fixed.”

Tony rolled his eyes. Of course he had more than one car, that wasn’t what he was talking about. “I need something that’s not going to stand out as much,” he stated. “You should have seen the place; none of the cars were younger than I am. That’s the only reason it got broke into, I’m sure of it.”

Neither Rhodey nor Jarvis looked convinced, but Tony was; he’d had the entire journey back from Queens to think about it, after all. 

“Seriously, I might as well have driven into that place with a shining beacon on my head.”

Jarvis placed a hand on Tony’s shoulder, squeezing gently. “I’ll try and find you something more appropriate for next time,” he assured the seventeen year old. 

*

Howard was nowhere to be found when Tony woke up the following day. 

Jarvis said he had been woken in the middle of the night when the elder Stark had arrived home, but he couldn’t remember what time it had been, and Howard had been gone when he’d woken up to begin his daily tasks.

Personally, Tony didn’t give a shit if the other man came back or not. But he managed to keep his opinions to himself; Jarvis didn’t like him talking about his father like that.

Automatically, Tony had reached for the keys of his Audi, only to be reminded by Jarvis that it needed to go the shop to get fixed. 

With a scowl, he grabbed the keys to the Porsche and reminded Jarvis to let him know how much fixing the other car was going to cost; there was no way he was going to let Jarvis pay for something so expensive.

After Jarvis had promised that he would let Tony know, the teenager was on his way to school as he tried to forget about being forced to go to the gym the previous day.

“Nice car,” Stephen commented when Tony pulled up to the school with ten minutes to spare before home room.

Tony rolled his eyes and hiked his back pack further up his shoulder. Compared to the majority of the cars owned by the students of Silver Meadows, Tony’s two year old Porsche was nothing spectacular. Hell, it was exactly the same as Stephen’s own car which was parked three spaces away.

“Didn’t really have a choice since the Audi’s going to be in the shop all day,” he grumbled falling into step beside his friend as they headed into the school.

Stephen raised an eyebrow and looked at Tony questioningly. When he realised that his friend wasn’t going to let him go without an explanation, he did exactly that.

By the time he was finished, Stephen was snickering to himself. “Sounds like you had a pretty shitty day,” he stated when Tony finally fell silent.

Tony snorted and nodded. “You could say that,” he retorted. “Although… There was this pretty awesome piece of eye candy there for a while.”

“Really?” Stephen blurted incredulously. “At a _gym_ in Queens?”

A smirk crossed Tony’s face. “Oh yeah. You should have seen him, Ste,” he sighed dreamily, ignoring Stephen’s splutter at the nickname. “His muscles were to _die_ for. And don’t even get me started on his thighs. What I wouldn’t give to have them…”

“Enough!” Stephen begged with a laugh. “Too much information. Far too much information.”

Tony just shrugged his shoulders. “Well, you asked,” he pointed out.

Stephen rolled his eyes, but before he could say anything in response, they came face to face with Clint Barton. 

Barton was wearing a smirk on his face that immediately made Tony want to knock it off. The feeling intensified when Clint opened his mouth now he realised he had Tony and Stephen’s attention.

“How was it in the slums, Stark?” he sneered, earning him a titter of laughter from surrounding students.

Tony rolled his eyes but didn’t otherwise speak. He generally tried to avoid having anything to do with Barton; when the other teenager wasn’t forking out money for one of Tony’s essays, Tony had no desire to be in the same space as him.

Instead of rising to the taunt, Tony remained silent and shouldered his way past Clint.

He was barely two steps away when Clint called after him, “Best get used to being there! We all know that’s where you’re gonna end up after they expel you for cheating.”

Despite his attempts to heed the lessons Jarvis had taught him about controlling his anger, something inside Tony snapped. With a snarl, he whirled around to face Clint once more.

From somewhere behind him, Tony could hear other students exclaiming in surprise at the suddenness of the action from the smartest kid in school. But Tony didn’t care about them.

Tony shoved Clint against the nearest locker, taking pleasure in the wince of pain that flittered across the teenager’s face as his head hit the metal behind him.

“Get off me!” Clint exclaimed, trying to push Tony’s hands away from him, but Tony was stronger and he wasn’t going anywhere.

“Listen to me, you little shit,” Tony hissed, leaning closer so his face was mere inches away from Clint’s face. He placed his forearm against Clint’s chest, pushing him firmly back against the locker to keep him in place.

“If anyone is going to flunk out of High School, it’s sure as shit not gonna be me,” Tony continued when he was sure that he still had Clint’s undivided attention. “I might have been selling papers, but you’re one of the dumb fucks who needed the help.”

Clint’s face was growing redder by the second. Tony didn’t know whether it was because he was losing oxygen, or because he was embarrassed. He didn’t care, either way.

Tony felt a hand on his arm and turned his head to the side, although he didn’t relax his grip on Clint. Stephen was standing beside him, wearing a strange, indecipherable, expression on his face; Tony couldn’t decide if his friend was on his side or not.

All doubts were wiped from his mind when Stephen spoke, “Coulson will be heading this way in two minutes.” His voice was low, a whisper really, and would ordinarily have been lost in the sea of noise around them.

Only there wasn’t any noise. Everyone was watching Tony in silence, with equal amounts of awe and fear in their eyes.

Tony nodded once, knowing that Stephen wasn’t telling him to leave Clint alone; he was only warning Tony to not get caught doing something that would definitely get him suspended.

Clint let out a whimper when Tony turned back to face him and the genius couldn’t stop himself from smirking. “Listen to me very carefully,” Tony said, leaning closer and lowering his voice even further; he didn’t want any one to be able to back Clint up if he tried to get Tony in more trouble.

“If I find out you _were_ involved in snitching on me, I will make you wish you’d never been born,” Tony hissed, making sure that he maintained eye contact.

He wanted to make sure that there was no way Clint could misinterpret his words or think he was kidding.

“You got me?” he asked, leaning against Clint a little harder than he had been.

For a brief moment, Tony thought Clint was going to fight him further, but then he nodded weakly, confirming that he agreed to Tony’s terms.

The hand Stephen still had on his arm tightened fractionally and Tony finally released Clint, letting him slump against the locker as he tried to catch his breath.

Not even thirty seconds later, Coulson came around the corner and froze when he saw so many pupils standing around in silence.

“What’s happening here?” the teacher asked warily, looking around to see who would be the one to cave first.

As one the students, including Tony and Stephen, turned to face Clint, who immediately opened his mouth. One death glare from Tony was all it took to make him snap it closed.

“Nothing, Sir,” Clint muttered through obviously clenched teeth, making Tony grin widely.

Coulson raised an eyebrow - obviously he didn’t believe a word of what he was being told, but he was known as being one of the few teachers who didn’t try to beat a confession of out a student. Instead, he chose to let the matter lie. For now.

“In that case, shouldn’t you all be in class?” Coulson asked, moving around Tony and Stephen who were blocking the entrance to his classroom.

His words seemed to snap the students out of their daze and they snapped to attention quickly, each of them running off to whichever class they were supposed to be in.

Tony, however, waited outside the room until Coulson disappeared inside. When he was sure he was out of earshot, Tony turned to Clint with a smirk on his face.

“Are we good?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at Clint. They weren’t; he had no intention of being his friend, but he wanted to make sure Clint got that he wasn’t kidding around when he said he would make the other teenager’s life hell.

Clint scowled but remained silent. When Tony took a step closer to him, he started and backed away, hand running absentmindedly a hand over his chest where Tony’s arm had been pressed. “Yeah,” he muttered, not looking the other teenager in the eye as he grabbed his backpack from where he had dropped it before hightailing it into the classroom.

Slowly the remaining students disappeared and Tony was left in the corridor with Stephen. 

“What was that about?” Stephen asked, raising an eyebrow and moving around so he was standing in front of his friend. “You _know_ he didn’t spill the beans about your whole operation. You should have seen how scared he was when the teachers realised _he’d_ been one of your customers.”

Tony didn’t answer immediately, instead choosing to mull over the question Stephen had asked. He didn’t know _why_ he’d reacted the way he had. Normally he was pretty good at brushing aside what other people said and thought, but there was something about the words Clint had been throwing in his direction that had struck a chord. But he couldn’t put his finger on what.

“I have no idea,” he finally whispered, looking up into Stephen’s heterochromatic eyes. “I don’t think I slept very well last night. Must have finally gotten to me.”

Stephen didn’t believe him - Tony could tell by the look on his face - but he didn’t call the other teenager out on his obvious lie. “Well, whatever it is, you’d better get over it because you can’t get expelled over someone like _Barton.”_ He turned up his nose a little and Tony couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh.

A pointed cough got their attention and they both looked up quickly to see Professor Coulson standing in the doorway to his classroom, looking at them with a raised eyebrow.

“We’re waiting for you to grace us with your presence, Mr Stark, Mr Strange,” Coulson said. There was a carefulness to his tone that made it clear he was choosing his words to ensure Tony couldn’t find a loop hole to get out of class somehow.

Not that Tony actually wanted to. Even if he ignored the inevitable punishment that would follow from Howard if he did, Tony wanted to see Clint squirm every time he looked up and saw Tony staring at him.

The other teenager may not be responsible for the predicament Tony was in, but he was sure as hell going to make him suffer for his part in it.

*

Two days later Clint was still avoiding him at school and it was amusing Tony far more than it probably should.

Stephen and Bruce were no closer to figuring out who had snitched on him, but Tony couldn’t bring himself to care. If he was being honest, he was pretty sure they weren’t ever going to figure it out, but there was something inside Tony that wasn’t going to let him give up like that.

He was a stubborn bastard like that.

Jarvis had taken his task of finding a new car for Tony seriously and it hadn’t even taken him more than half a morning to find the perfect one.

The car he had bought was a late 2000’s Chevvy that would probably be called a classic in a few years. But at that moment, it felt like an absolute eye-sore to Tony.

He couldn’t help feeling irritated that he would have to be seen driving around in what was such a rust bucket compared to his usual, brand-new cars.

Jarvis, of course, had known exactly what had been running through Tony’s mind and had reminded the teenager that if he didn’t want to have to fix his Audi every two days, he needed to drive something must less ostentatious.

Reluctant as he was to admit it, Tony knew Jarvis was right. He was being a spoilt brat, and there were much worse things he could be driving around that a 2009 Chevvy.

With a small sigh and, resigning himself to his fate, Tony had pressed a soft kiss against Jarvis’s cheek, telling him that he would be back in a couple of hours, before climbing into the car.

The interior was nothing like he was used to, obviously, but Tony couldn’t help find it cute. It wasn’t customised like his usual cars, but he couldn’t stop the smile curling his lips when he noticed that the mats under his feet had been monogrammed with his initials.

Jarvis had done everything he could to make it feel as though this strange new car was actually Tony’s.

Even though it hadn’t been that long since Tony had been to the gym, he didn’t feel comfortable making his way across the city without the aid of an electronic voice telling him where to go. Unfortunately the new car didn’t come with a built in GPS like his Audi.

Luckily for him, however, it was the twenty-first century and he had a back up on his cell phone.

Just like the last time Tony had been in Queens, there were almost no spaces free to park in the neighbourhood. Even the space he had parked in the last time had been taken by someone else.

Not that Tony actually wanted to park there; he wasn’t sure he trusted the neighbourhood people to not smash his windows through like they did last time.

Instead, he was forced to park a little way down the street, next to a deli which smelt _amazing_ and made Tony’s stomach grumble when he remembered it had been hours since he’d last had something to eat.

He was about to duck inside and grab something to eat when he saw a handwritten sign on the door, declaring that they were a cash only establishment.

_Seriously? Who the hell carries cash in 2018?_

A scowl crossed Tony’s face and his hand fell away from the door. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been to an ATM, and wasn’t even sure if he could remember what the feel of paper money felt like in his hands.

With a sigh and, resigning himself to his fate of staying hungry, Tony turned away from the deli, trying to not mourn the loss.

Unlike the last time he had been there, the gym was well lit and the doors were wide open, clearly inviting people inside. Even if Tony hadn’t needed to, curiosity would have eventually gotten the better of him. He wanted to know what was so different about today that Fury was inviting people inside.

His curiosity was peaked even further when he heard the sound of cheering and yelling coming from beyond the doors. It didn’t sound like there was danger inside; if anything it sounded like people were excited by… something.

Following the sounds, Tony headed through both sets of doors and winced at the wall of noise that assaulted his senses seconds later.

The last time he had been there, Tony had been surprised at the lack of people who had been visiting the gym. Now, he wanted nothing more than to turn on his heel and run away. There had to be close to a hundred people squashed into the tiny space.

Before his cowardice got the better of him, a person in front of him turned around and Tony quickly realised that it was actually Peter.

“Tony!” Peter mouthed, his eyes widening as a grin spread across his face.

He rushed over to Tony, the grin never leaving his face. “You came back!” Now that he was closer, Tony realised that Peter wasn’t actually mouthing the words at him. He was having to yell to be heard over the din, despite standing beside Tony.

“What’s going on?” Tony asked, raising his voice to match Peter’s.

Peter opened his mouth, just as the sound of crowd swelled around them, drowning whatever words he would have said out. The younger teenager scowled and glanced around him.

Without warning, Peter reached down and grabbed hold of Tony’s hand. The genius let out a yelp of surprise as Peter tugged his hand, pulling him through the throng of people who were around the ring.

Peter pulled Tony up a rickety old staircase, up to the mostly-empty second level of the gym; most of the people having chosen to stay in the space below them.

Even though it was still the same room, it seemed quieter up there than it had below.

“It’s a Wolves tradition,” Peter answered, still having to raise his voice but nowhere near as much as he’d had to when Tony had first bumped into him. “Director Fury holds bi-monthly knock-out championships; we’re on the semi finals.”

Tony’s eyes widened and he turned away from Peter, glancing down at the space below them. Just as Peter had said, there were three people inside the ring. One was wearing a black shirt - clearly the referee - and was standing well back from the other two.

“Is that…?”

“Bucky?” Peter finished for him with a nod of his head. “He’s one of the best fighters at the gym.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “He only has one arm!” he couldn’t help pointing out. He winced as the opponent threw a punch at Bucky - he couldn’t see who the other people was, but he couldn’t believe they’d just tried to punch a one armed man. He let out a sigh of relief when Bucky easily blocked the hit, only to return it with one of his own.

Peter finally dragged his attention away from the flight and looked at Tony with a confused expression on his face. “And…?” he pushed, prompting Tony to explain why he had such a problem with Bucky fighting.

“I… Well… It’s not exactly a fair fight, is it?” Tony spluttered, unable to figure out why Peter couldn’t see that there was a problem with what was happening at the gym.

The younger teenager remained confused for another moment, before realisation dawned on his face and he grinned. “Trust me, Bucky can take care of himself. He’s been the raining champion two years running.”

A cheering from below got their attention once more and they turned just in time to see Bucky plant a punch on his opponent’s jaw, sending him crashing down to the mat.

Beside him, Peter practically screamed in excitement and leant against the railings, practically hanging over the metal; Tony felt a little scared that he was going to throw himself over by accident.

Tony wasn’t going to get any more information from Peter; it was only the second time they’d met and even he knew that. As far as the younger teenager was concerned, whatever conversation he had been having with Tony was over the second Bucky’s opponent had hit the mat.

It was infuriating to Tony, who needed to know as much as he could about everything, but at the same time it made Bucky even more intriguing to Tony.

He would find out everything he could about the other teenager. It just might take him a while.

*  

It was almost nine when Tony managed to pull himself away from where he had been chatting about science with Peter and Loki; not that he thought the dark haired seventeen-year-old was interested in science at all. In fact, Tony couldn’t accurately say that Loki wasn’t interested in _him._

Tony couldn’t figure it out and it probably had something to do with the fact that Loki seemed to flirt with everyone except Thor.

Again, Peter seemed down to hear that Tony was leaving and was eager to find out if the older teenager was going to come back. Despite how many assurances Tony gave him that he _had_ to return for the foreseeable future, Peter always looked petrified.

The temperature outside the gym had dropped significantly since the sun had set and Tony couldn’t help shivering as he pulled his jacket closer. 

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cigarettes; he didn’t smoke often - mostly only at school to irritate people - but right then he was crazing something and cigarettes were the only things he had to hand. 

“Oh come on,” Tony muttered under his breath, tapping his pockets in the vain hope that his lighter would have appeared since the last time he’d looked. But nope, it was nowhere to be found.

Before he could get more irritated than he already was, a hand appeared in front of Tony. Grasped in those fingers was a silver zippo lighter.

Silently, Tony allowed his eyes to run from those fingers, down the other person’s hand, up a leather jacket covered arm, across a broad shoulder and up the other person’s thick neck.

It was Bucky, Tony realised dumbly. 

_Holy shit, he’s even hotter up close!_

Bucky raised an eyebrow and Tony had to fight not to screw his eyes closed; he really hoped he hadn’t spoken aloud. He must have remained silent as Bucky didn’t say anything, just waved the lighter in the air in front of Tony’s face.

“Oh, thanks,” Tony murmured as he returned to his senses.

Carefully, he extracted the lighter from Bucky’s hand, purposely avoiding touching the other’s hand. The last thing he needed was to know what Bucky’s skin felt like against his own; he didn’t think his imagination - or libido - could cope with that.

Without speaking, Tony ignited the device and lit the cigarette dangling from his lips.

“Thanks,” he repeated, handing the lighter back to it’s owner.

Neither of them spoke, both continuing to smoke their way through their respective cigarettes and lost in their own worlds. Tony was so lost in his thoughts that he started in surprise when James finally spoke.

“Second time I’ve seen you here.”

Tony flushed in embarrassment when he realised that James had made him jump. Taking a breath to get himself back under control, he shrugged his shoulders. “The old man thinks I need straightening out.” He had been airing for an air of nonchalance, but realised quickly that he probably sounded like a douche bag who was being mysterious on purpose.

Bucky raised a questioning eyebrow. “And the Wolves’ is the best way he could think of to do that?” he asked incredulously.

“I’m pretty sure it was his way of trying to be particularly sadistic,” Tony answered with a grin. “My mother’s charity funds this place,” he added when Bucky looked at him curiously.

Blue eyes widened in surprise at Tony’s words. “I didn’t realise Howard Stark was married to Maria Carbonell,” he admitted. A laugh escaped when Tony looked at him in surprise. “You’re not the only person Peter likes to talk science to. He’s been a fan of yours for as long as I’ve known him.”

This time Tony couldn’t stop the blush from creeping up his neck at Bucky’s words. He’d suspected that Peter was more of a fan of Tony’s than he had been letting on, and apparently he had been correct if Bucky’s words were to be believed.

Feeling slightly uncomfortable at the mention of Peter’s semi-hero worship of him, Tony coughed lightly and changed the subject. “I didn’t think you’d still be here. Loki said you normally duck out straight after a fight.”

Bucky shrugged, flicking ash away from his cigarette. “Didn’t have a ride, and I prefer to walk home later in the day,” he replied, which made Tony frown a little but he didn’t get chance to comment before Bucky continued. “Stevie usually drops me off, but he’s not here, so…”

Tony raised an eyebrow; he felt horrible, but he hadn’t even realised that Bucky’s friend wasn’t at the gym with him. “Where is he? I didn’t think you came without him.”

An almost fond smile spread across Bucky’s face, and he exhaled a cloud of smoke. “He doesn’t like me to fight,” he replied. “Not coming on fight nights is his version of a protest.”

There was a roll of blue eyes and Tony chuckled. Even though he had been attracted to Bucky since the moment he’d laid eyes on him, listening to him talking was making Tony like him even more.

He didn’t want to give it up yet.

“Let me give you a ride,” Tony blurted.

Bucky looked just as surprised at Tony’s offer as the teenager felt and he shook his head. “Thanks for the offer, but it’s not necessary,” he replied. “I live in Brooklyn; it’s like a twenty minute walk away.”

Even though Tony hadn’t been planning on offering to take him home, there was no way that he was planning on taking back the offer now. Jarvis had raised him better than that and would kill him if he let the other man walk home on his own.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Tony scoffed, waving his hand to dismiss Bucky’s words. “I’m heading that way anyway. No point in me driving past you.”

He was lying - _of_ _course_ he was lying - Brooklyn was nowhere near Tony’s route home.

Bucky stared at him with a raised eyebrow. It was obvious he knew Tony wasn’t speaking the truth, and he was clearly fighting with something inside his mind. Just when Tony was sure that he was going to turn him down for a final time, Bucky slowly nodded.

“Okay,” he responded. “If you’re sure.”

Tony grinned at him which Bucky returned, making butterflies flutter around Tony’s stomach uncontrollably.

_Fuck, he even has a nice smile._

He stubbed out what was remaining of his cigarette, and withdrew the Chevvy’s keys from his pocket. 

As soon as his fingers curled around the metal, Tony hesitated and started to feel self-conscious about the car. Normally if he wanted to impress someone, he would show them the flashy Audi or Porsche. But he didn’t have either car to fall back on now.

As they drew closer to where Tony had parked, the teenager couldn’t help hold his breath as he waited for Bucky to comment on how he couldn’t believe that the gym’s resident rich-boy drove around in anything less than the newest model car.

Bucky didn’t even react to the car as he moved around to the passenger side, pulling the door open when Tony remotely unlocked them.

_At least the window is in one piece, this time._

Tony remained outside the car for a moment, taking a breath to steady his heartbeat at the thought of being alone in a confined space with Bucky, before following suit and sliding into the driver’s seat.

“I hope you know where I’m going,” Tony commented, sliding his key into the ignition and starting the car. “Because I have _no_ idea.”

Beside him, Bucky chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Been living in my apartment since I was seventeen; if I couldn’t find my way there after three years, I’d be scared for myself.”

Tony chuckled, but he didn’t reply. He was too busy storing away the smidgen of information that had finally been offered to him; he may not know anything else about him, but at least Tony knew that the other man was actually twenty-years old.

With the help of Bucky, they were on their way from Queens to Brooklyn with no issues.

They lapsed into silence as Tony drove, the only sound coming from Bucky as he occasionally gave directions to his apartment.

“It’s the grey building on the corner,” Bucky said after ten minutes of navigating Tony through the streets. “You can just drop me anywhere,” he added.

Tony hummed and promptly chose to ignore him, driving straight for the building that Bucky had indicated. The other man raised an eyebrow at him, but Tony ignored him. Jarvis hadn’t brought him up for him to just leave Bucky to walk down the street when he could be dropped off on the doorstep.

As he pulled to a stop, Tony chewed his lower lip; he wanted to find a reason for Bucky to stick around for longer, but there was nothing he could think of that didn’t sound pathetic.

“Thanks for the ride, Stark,” Bucky murmured, reaching for the handle.

Tony couldn’t help it, he panicked and blurted, “What’s your real name?” The second the words were out of his mouth, Tony felt his cheeks colour in  embarrassment. Why couldn’t the ground swallow him whole when he needed it to?

“What makes you think it’s not ‘Bucky’?” he asked, raising an eyebrow and glancing back over at Tony.

Tony couldn’t help snort with laughter. “Because I refuse to believe that _any_ parent is evil enough to call their child that,” he stated.

A surprised laugh escaped Bucky and Tony couldn’t help grinning in response. “Fair point,” he conceded. “My name’s actually ‘James Barnes’.”

That surprised Tony; he didn’t know what he had thought Bucky’s name was, but he knew that he hadn’t been expecting something so _normal_ as ‘James’.

“So where the hell did ‘Bucky’ come from?” Tony demanded.

The corners of Bucky’s mouth turned up in a slightly bashful smile. “You know how you said no parents could be that evil? My middle name is ‘Buchanan’.”

He fell silent to let Tony process the statement. With each moment that passed after his admission, the look of amusement grew on his face.

“As in… _President_ James Buchanan?” Bucky nodded, grinning from ear to ear. “Okay, I take it back; they are evil. At least it makes sense why people call you Bucky now.”

Bucky chuckled and shrugged. “Stevie is the only one who really calls me it,” he admitted. “When we started going to the gym, it’s what he introduced me as and I just haven’t gotten around to correcting people. It doesn’t really bother me anymore, though.”

He opened the car door, before pausing again and turning back to Tony. “You’re at the gym every couple of days, right?”

There was no way Bucky could realise it, but his words made Tony’s stomach twist and his heart leap with happiness. He hadn’t realised that Bucky would have spotted a trend in how frequently he had been at the gym.

Not trusting his voice, Tony nodded slowly.

“I’m not sure if Peter remembered to tell you, but they’re having a party next Tuesday.” When Tony looked at him questioningly, he continued to explain, “Those that can drive pick up the rest and we go down to the pier for drinks and food.”

Tony bit his lip. “I’m not sure I’d be welcome,” he said softly.

Bucky rolled his eyes and let out a laugh. “Are you kidding? I’m pretty sure Peter would _cry_ if you didn’t turn up.”

The seventeen-year-old chuckled and he ducked his head, trying to pretend that he wasn’t flattered. He looked up, meeting James’s eyes with his own. “Are you gonna be there?” he asked, sounding braver than he actually felt. 

A surprised look crossed Bucky’s face and Tony immediately started wishing he could take the words back - definitely not for the first time, and probably not the last. 

Before Tony could drive himself too insane, Bucky grinned. “If you’re going,” he bargained.

Tony desperately wanted to believe that he wasn’t imaging the flirting tone to Bucky’s voice, but in reality he knew that he was projecting his feelings.

“Deal,” he whispered, pausing for a second before adding, “James.”

Bucky let out a startled laugh. “I’ll see you in a few days… Tony,” he said, finally opening the door fully and climbing out.

*

Despite the hour, the lights were still on when Tony arrived back home a short while later. 

Since dropping Bucky at his apartment, Tony had been feeling practically giddy. He felt like a little kid who couldn’t wait to tell his parents all about his day; only it was _Jarvis_ he was excited to tell, not Howard.

The door was unlocked when Tony stepped up to it - a clear sign that Jarvis knew his schedule well enough to know when he would be back, even if he was a little later than he usually was.

“Hey, Jarv!” Tony called, closing and locking the door behind him.

He heard footsteps down the hallway and felt a smile spread across his face as he turned to face them. The smile froze in place when he realised that the steps didn’t belong to Jarvis at all. 

Instead, Howard was standing in the doorway to the lounge with a scotch in one hand, an unlit cigar in the other.

“Ah, Tony,” Howard greeted, a faux smile spreading across his face that didn’t fool Tony one bit. “I was beginning to think you weren’t coming home.”

Tony had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop the response that had been on the tip of his tongue. He wouldn’t run away from home - that would give Howard far too much satisfaction, and there was no way he could leave Jarvis alone with Howard.

Instead of speaking, he focused his attention on pulling off his coat and kicking his shoes into the corner; Jarvis hated when he left his things lying around, but it was a habit he had never been able to break himself of.

“Traffic was heavy over the bridge,” he muttered, not even bothering to pretend that he wasn’t lying. He didn’t care if Howard was pissed about him being late. What was he going to do, stop him from going to the gym as part of his earlier punishment.

Wordlessly Tony headed down the corridor, heading for the kitchen. He was halfway there when Howard finally spoke again. “How is Queens treating you?”

Tony didn’t even need to turn around to know that his father was smirking at the thought of Tony’s suffering. Well, he might as well give him what he wanted - even though the whole experience was nowhere near what Tony had expected it to be.

“It could be worse,” he muttered with a small shrug of his shoulders. “I’ll be glad when it’s over though, so I can get back to my life.” That was one of the bigger lies Tony had told over recent years; he wasn’t ready to cut ties with the gym - and, by extension, James - yet.

“It sounds like Alexander and I were right to give you this punishment,” he mused. “You’ll definitely thank us for this in the future, Anthony.”

Tony seriously doubted he would thank Howard for anything, but he didn’t reach which made Howard chuckle behind him, clearly thinking he had gotten under Tony’s skin; he seemed to have made that his mission over the last few years.

When he saw that he wasn’t going to get a rise out of Tony, Howard huffed. “Try to not keep Jarvis from his duties,” he instructed. 

Tony finally turned around in time to see his father head up the oak staircase, without another word to his son.

As soon as he was alone, Tony allowed his eyes to narrow into a glare and he couldn’t resist flicking his middle finger up at the other man’s retreating back. An action which gave him great satisfaction, even if it was childish.

When Howard disappeared upstairs, Tony turned on his heel and continued the path that would have led him into the kitchen. Jarvis always loved to finish the day with a cup of English tea and a chapter or two of his book while he sat at the table.

Usually, when Tony joined him there was an extra cup and plate of cookies waiting for him.

Just as he had expected, Jarvis was sitting at the table. There was a steaming cup beside his right hand and a battered paperback cradled in his left. He glanced up when he heard footsteps enter the kitchen and a smile spread across his face; the kind of smile that Tony had never seen on Howard’s face and knew he never would.

“You’re late,” Jarvis commented. Unlike Howard, there was no accusation in the British man’s tone; just a slight element of relief that Tony wasn’t lying in some ditch somewhere.

Again, unlike when he had been talking to Howard, Tony a flash of guilt that he’d made Jarvis worry about him. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, sliding into the chair beside Jarvis and wrapping his hands around the still piping hot cup waiting for him.

Jarvis didn’t speak as he took a sip of his tea. It was like this sometimes; they had been known to sit in silence for as long as two hours without feeling the need to speak or the atmosphere being awkward between them.

“I gave this guy from the gym a ride home,” he gushed, slightly more enthusiastic than he meant to sound.

Beside him, Jarvis paused at the words coming from Tony’s mouth and he closed the book after bookmarking his page. He still didn’t speak as he waited for Tony to go into more detail. Again, Tony couldn’t stop himself from drawing parallels with Jarvis’s version of parenting and his actual father’s approach of bringing Tony up.

Howard would have demanded to know who Tony was talking about, what James’s social class was, who his parents were and what the family connection could do to expand the Stark empire.

Jarvis, however, was more than willing to wait for Tony to gather his thoughts at his own speed. 

“He’s called ‘James’,” Tony told him after he’d had a moment of silence. “We were talking outside the gym,” there was no way he was going to admit to Jarvis that he smoked - he would be grounded for life if he did, “and he mentioned that he didn’t have a ride.”

Tony shrugged his shoulders. “I couldn’t let him walk home at this time of night, so I took a small detour.”

Jarvis relaxed marginally. He even looked a little proud that Tony was enough of a gentleman that he wouldn’t let someone walk home on their own. Tony wanted to point out that Jarvis had brought him up better than that but he didn’t; Jarvis didn’t like it when Tony talked about thinking of him as more of a father than Howard.

“Where does this James live?” Jarvis asked curiously.

Tony took a sip of his tea, hissing when he felt how hot the liquid still was; it was going to be midnight before he could drink it without scolding his mouth. “Brooklyn,” he answered, getting to his feet and heading over to the sink to add some cold water to the mug.

“That’s not too far away,” Jarvis commented, his grey eyes following Tony across the room. 

Satisfied that he could drink his tea without needing to go to ER afterwards, Tony returned to the table and snagged a cookie from the plate that had also been waiting for him. “Normally his friend Steve drives him home, but he wasn’t at the gym tonight.” He purposely left out that James had been fighting. He didn’t want to give Jarvis the wrong impression of someone he was still getting to know himself.

“Can’t he drive himself?” Jarvis asked curiously.

Tony shook his head, taking a drink. “He only has one arm,” he answered simply. 

Jarvis’s eyes widened marginally but he showed no other sign of being surprised by Tony’s admission.

“I don’t know what happened and I didn’t really want to ask,” Tony said with a shrug, answering the question he was sure that Jarvis didn’t want to ask. “I’ve only just found out his real name.”

His words made Jarvis raise a questioning eyebrow. “He gave you a fake name originally?” 

For the first time since Tony had gotten home there was an element of judgement in Jarvis’s voice. He rapidly shook his head.

“Not him,” he assured Jarvis. “Everyone at the gym calls him ‘Bucky’, but there was no _way_ I was going to call him that,” he added with a short laugh and a roll of his eyes.

In front of him, Jarvis relaxed fractionally at Tony’s assurance that he hadn’t been lied to. “Tony, you know you can’t not call him his name just because you don’t like it,” he pointed out.

A mock-offended look spread across Tony’s face for a second, before he laughed and a grin broke through. “But _Bucky_ is so ridiculous,” he whined. “He doesn’t like it, but that’s what Steve introduced him as and it’s kinda stuck.”

Jarvis pursed his lips as though he didn’t believe him for a moment before he slowly relaxed. “I suppose, as long as he’s okay with you calling him ‘James’,” he murmured softly, offering Tony a small smile. “It’s unusual for you to not call someone by a nickname,” Jarvis added, taking a cookie from the plate himself.

Tony laughed happily and nodded his head. “Nicknames that _I’ve_ given people are completely different, _Jarv_.” He glanced at his watch and winced when he saw that, with dropping James off, it was later than it normally would be. “I should get to bed,” he realised, finishing off the last of his tea and getting to his feet.

After depositing the empty cup in the dishwasher (he tried to make the lives of their help as easy as he could), Tony moved back over to the table. 

“Stephen and I are going out after school tomorrow,” he reminded Jarvis, even though he wouldn’t need to. Jarvis never forgot a single moment in Tony’s life; he was usually the one who reminded Tony that he needed to be somewhere for an appointment or engagement of some kind.

“I will make sure your father is out of the way when you get home,” Jarvis assured him. “Text me if you think you’re going to be later than normal,” he added, picking up the book he had set to the side a short while earlier.

An affectionate smile crossed Tony’s face. “I will.” He leant down and pressed a kiss against Jarvis’s cheek. “Night, Jarv.”

Jarvis’s hand came up to cover where Tony’s was on his shoulder and he squeezed softly. “Goodnight, Tony,” he whispered.

Tony smiled to himself as he headed out of the kitchen. He knew that he didn’t need to ask Jarvis to not tell Howard that he was actually enjoying spending time at the gym. If it wasn’t absolutely necessary and about something work related, Jarvis generally didn’t speak to his employer very often. And Tony knew for a _fact_ that he never spoke to Howard about Tony.

It was probably frowned upon to keep secrets from the person who employed you, but that confidentiality he had with Jarvis was just one of the many years why Tony loved the British man.

*

Tony did’t have many friends at Silver Meadows, but he and the friends he _did_ have liked to make sure they spent time away from the school as often as they could.

With all their different after school activities it wasn’t always easy to schedule time together that didn’t involve educational activities, but the small group of friends had one tradition that they tried to make sure they stuck to as often as they could.

Every time a new eatery opened within a ten mile radius of the school, they would head there and sample the local cuisine. The quality of that food varied wildly, but that was all part of the experience.

As soon as school finished Tony and Stephen, who were in the same final class, headed out to the parking lot. Bruce would meet them after Chemistry and the trio would make their way there in Tony’s freshly repaired Audi.

The restaurant they had decided on for their traditional visit was a small diner _just_ within their obligatory ten mile radius.

It wasn’t long after the trio arrived that Rhodey pulled up, having been invited into the circle of friends by Tony, and they could finally attack as much as they could eat on the menu.

As soon as the waitress had taken their order, all three of his friends seemed to turn to Tony as one. 

“How’s the punishment going?” Bruce asked, taking a sip of the complimentary water they had been provided with. 

Tony had to bite back the sigh; he should have known that they would all want to talk about his time in Queens. The only person he’d really spoken about it with was Stephen, and a little with Rhodey, but he had mostly kept them in the dark about what was going on.

“It’s not as bad as I expected it to be,” he admitted with a small shrug of his shoulders. “But, if Howard asks, it’s hell on Earth.”

“What are you even doing there?” Bruce continued asking. “Seems a bit of a waste of time to me.”

Part of Tony agreed, but the rest of him was screaming that being at the gym was the best part of his week - he was pretty sure that part of him was the bit which was attracted to James, and he dutifully ignored it.

“Just hanging out mostly,” Tony answered Bruce, distractedly fiddling with the cutlery in front of him. He tried to pretend that he wasn’t doing it to avoid eye contact with his friends, but he couldn’t even convince himself.

Rhodey raised an eyebrow, knowing immediately that Tony wasn’t telling them the full story. “What else?” he pressed.

Tony was more than willing to ignore the question and change the subject away from him. But Stephen wasn’t going to let him. “He’s got a crush on one of the guys there,” he piped up with a smirk when Tony glared at him.

It wasn’t that he was bothered about his friends knowing he was attracted to guys; he wasn’t exactly secret about his attraction to the same sex. It was more that they wouldn’t let him live down his little crush if they knew the truth.

The rest of the table were silent for a moment, before Rhodey finally spoke. “Who?” he asked. It was obvious from the tone of his voice that he was trying to work out who it was from what Tony had told about the gym. Not that he would be able to, Tony had purposely not told his best friend about James.

For a moment, Tony thought about ignoring the question but he quickly dismissed the notion; he was sat in the corner of their booth - there was no way the others were going to let him out without some answers.

“There’s this guy - he’s _gorgeous_ ,” he reluctantly admitted. “It’s not a big deal,” he muttered, feeling his cheeks growing hotter under their scrutiny.

Across the table, Stephen snorted with laughter and rolled his eyes. “That’s not what you were telling me before you beat Barton up,” he reminded Tony.

Rhodey’s eyes went wide and he turned in his seat to stare at Tony incredulously. “What?” he asked slowly.

Tony sighed and leant forward, leaning his elbows against the table and pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. “This is getting ridiculous,” he muttered, shaking his head.

Taking a deep breath, he sat upright and rolled his shoulders like a fighter preparing for a fight - which wouldn’t be far off the truth if the look on Rhodey’s face was anything to go by.

“I didn’t _technically_ beat Barton up,” Tony said, making eye contact with Rhodey to make sure that his oldest friend knew he wasn’t lying - that wouldn’t go over well for any of them, and Tony didn’t want to get kicked out before they ate.

Stephen scoffed but a quick glare from Tony shut him up. “I just made sure  he knew what would happen if I find out he’s the one who spilt the beans.”

Rhodey raised an eyebrow, waiting for the rest of the sentence and Tony sighed; he should have known that Rhodey wouldn’t let him get away with being intentionally vague.

“Okay, fine,” Tony sighed. “There might have been a moment where he was pinned against the wall by something. That something being my arm,” he admitted.

The curious look that had been on Rhodey’s face darkened to something that resembled fury and he opened his mouth to let rip on Tony. His rant was cut off when the waitress arrived with their food, and Tony was allowed a brief respite.

As soon as they were alone again, Rhodey picked up where he had left off. “Are you insane?” he hissed, his dark eyes shining dangerously. “Howard was willing to _disown_ you for something stupid like writing people’s essays for them. What the hell do you think he’s going to do if he finds out you’ve been threatening people?”

Tony winced but not from Rhodey’s anger. He hadn’t told the others what Howard had threatened him with - that had been confided in Rhodey in strict confidence. Clearly his friend had forgotten that in his fear for Howard finding out what Tony had been up to.

“He’s not going to find out,” Tony tried to reassure his friend. 

Rhodey sighed and shook his head. “You don’t know that,” he pointed out, shoving a fry into his mouth. 

Stephen finally - _finally_ \- decided to speak up in Tony’s defence. “No one’s going to say a word,” he assured Rhodey, earning him a thankful look from Tony. “Coulson was nowhere to be found, and anyone who was around wouldn’t dare to say anything against Tony. Not after that little display.”

Tony grinned, feeling a little of the stress he’d been feeling up to that point drain away from him. He wasn’t lying when he told Rhodey that he wasn’t concerned about Clint telling a teacher what he had done; the little shit was far too much of a coward to piss Tony off again.

He also knew that there was nothing he could say to convince Rhodey of that.

Deciding that his crush on James was going to be the lesser of the two evils, Tony changed the subject back to the other man.

“I thought you were going to judge me on my crush, not Barton being a dick,” he muttered, drowning his fries with ketchup which earned him a disgruntled look from Bruce but he ignored it. It wasn’t his fault that the other teenager didn’t like sauce on _anything_ ; technically Bruce was the freak not Tony.

Rhodey’s eyes narrowed; he knew immediately what Tony was trying to do and for a moment, the genius thought he wasn’t going to let it drop. After a few seconds, Rhodey seemed to resign himself to not grilling Tony and allowed his friend to divert their attention.

“Fine,” Rhodey murmured, nodding his head slightly. “Tell us all about lover boy.” He waved his hand in the air and turned his attention back to his food.

Tony felt his cheeks flush at Rhodey’s words. “He’s _not_ my lover boy,” he retorted.

“Not that you wouldn’t say no if he asked,” Stephen pointed out.

“Well, no,” Tony agreed with a laugh. “I’m not an idiot.”

Stephen laughed. “You don’t even know his name,” he pointed out and Tony had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from yelling at him. Seriously, Tony was going to stop telling him stuff if Stephen wasn’t careful.

“Actually,” Tony corrected before Rhodey could wind himself up too much, “he told me it last night.”

The teenager opposite him raised an eyebrow. “So his name’s definitely _not_ Bucky, then?” Stephen pressed.

Tony snorted and shook his head. “Thank god for that.” He shuddered a little. “He’s called ‘James’, so you should get on like a house on fire, Rhodey-Bear,” Tony added, throwing a grin in Rhodey’s direction to sweeten him up.

Rhodey rolled his eyes at his friend’s comments. “Is that all you know about him?” he asked. “He’s called James and is a walking wet dream?”

Tony smirked and contemplated going into more detail about what he had imagined doing with James, but then he decided that Rhodey would kill him if he did and it wasn’t worth the risk.

“I’ve only spoken to him once,” he pointed out. “All I really know about him is that he lives in Brooklyn, and that he’s twenty.” Tony shrugged his shoulders uncaringly before turning his attention back to the food he had been neglecting.

He was halfway through his fries before he realised that silence had fallen at the table, and he looked up to see the other’s staring at him in surprise and horror. “What?” he asked uncomfortably around a mouthful of of fries.

“You didn’t say he was _twenty_ ,” Stephen pointed out.

Brown eyes rolled skyward. “That’s because I didn’t _know_ until yesterday,” Tony stated. “What does it matter?”

Beside him Rhodey sighed heavily. “Tones, it matters because if you do anything with him it’ll be statutory rape,” he said, lowering his voice so he wasn’t heard by any passersby.

Tony coughed wildly as he choked on a fry which got lodged in his throat. “Who said anything about sleeping with him?” he spluttered, having to take a drink to soothe the rawness in his throat from the coughing fit. “Just because I think he’s hot doesn’t mean anything’s going to happen between us.”

Rhodey pursed his lips, but the genius hadn’t finished speaking. “Hell, who even said anything about him being attracted to me?” He rolled his eyes. “As far as I know, he’s as straight as it gets.”

The other’s had the grace to look a little ashamed at their assumption that something was inevitably going to happen between James and Tony. Rhodey was the only one who still looked like he didn’t believe a word Tony was saying.

After a long moment of staring at him, Rhodey pursed his lips and nodded once. “Just be careful around him,” he instructed firmly.

A smirk tugged at the corners of Tony’s mouth and he reached over, patting Rhodey on the arm. “I promise, I’ll make sure to protect my virtue from the hot older boy,” he swore, his eyes twinkling in amusement.

It took a moment but eventually Rhodey seemed to believe Tony and turned back to his own food.

They slowly fell silent as they ate, each of them lost in their own worlds.

As he ate, Tony couldn’t help turning Rhodey’s words over in his mind.

He had lied; for the first time in his life, he’d been dishonest with his closest friend. Tony had no idea if James was interested in him, but he did know that if he _did_ get the opportunity, there was no way in hell Tony would turn the older man down.

The fact that he was three years older than him did nothing to deter his feelings; if anything it made him even hotter to think that the other man had more experience and could show Tony things no teenager ever could.

One thing he did know, however, was that if anything did happen between them, Tony was going to have to make sure Rhodey didn’t find out about it. 

After all, what the other teenager didn’t know couldn’t hurt _Tony_.

*

Tony learnt very quickly that the days he wasn’t planning on going to the gym were the longest of his life. Every moment where he wasn’t focusing on school work was spent thinking about going to the gym, and seeing James again.

Logically, he knew that he could attend the gym more than the alternate week days he’d signed himself up for, but he didn’t want to make Howard suspicious.

By the time Friday rolled around, Tony was sure that he was going to go crazy; he couldn’t stop thinking about James, and was pretty sure he was going to do himself harm if he was left alone with his right hand any longer.

Tony felt surprise shoot through him as he approached the gym and saw James waiting on the kerb, leaning against the laundromat. With his denim jacket and ripped jeans, Tony knew there was no way his bedroom fantasies were going to go away.

If anything, James had just inadvertently given Tony more to think about when he was alone.

Swallowing nervously, Tony parked the Chevvy and climbed out. “Hey,” he greeted cautiously, slamming the door behind him. 

He wanted to believe that James was waiting for him, but the rational side of his brain was telling Tony to get over himself; of course James wasn’t waiting for him.

Despite what Tony was telling himself, he couldn’t stop the butterflies flutter in his stomach when James grinned. “Thought you weren’t coming,” he commented when Tony drew closer to him.

The double entendre in James’s words made a bolt of lust shoot through Tony and he had to forcibly push the feelings aside and think of other, less sexy things.

Trying to ignore the inappropriate thoughts flickering through his mind, Tony fell into step beside James as they headed toward the gym. 

“And risk being grounded for the rest of my life?” He shook his head with a small shudder. “No thanks.”

James chuckled and rolled his eyes. “You’re right; I think spending a few hours here beats being trapped inside your house forever.”

Tony nodded, remaining serious for a few seconds before he couldn’t hold it any longer and he cracked a grin at James. 

“How come you’re waiting for me?” he asked. He didn’t want to question James’s willingness to hang out with him, but it was enough of a change to the routine Tony had gotten used to, that he couldn’t help questioning it.

Out of the corner of his eye, Tony noticed that James was looking a little uncomfortable; he even thought there was a slight colouring to the other’s cheeks.

“Thought you might want some company,” James finally replied carefully, sounding like he was choosing each word to make sure they were perfect before they came out of his mouth.

Unable to stop himself, Tony cracked a grin, which James seemed to automatically return with one of his own that was just as bright as the teenager’s. “Well, I suppose, it’s nice to have someone walk me from my car,” he commented. “At least with you here, I know no one’s going to jump me for my Rolex.” Tony rolled his eyes as he snorted with laughter, before freezing.

For a horrible moment he thought that James was going to think he was serious, but then he laughed as well. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you from the local twelve year olds,” he swore, his bright blue eyes sparkling in the sunlight.

Tony released the breath he had been holding and laughed along with James; at least the other man knew he was kidding, and he wasn’t actually that much of a snob. 

That would be the last thing Tony wanted James to think about him.

*

On Monday morning, Tony woke up to a bunch of text messages from his new friends at the gym.

The last time he had been in Queens, Tony had somehow managed to volunteer himself to drive Peter and his friend Ned to the pier that evening.

In his infinite wisdom, he’d also given his cell phone number to Peter in case there was a change of plans between Friday and Monday evening.

The fourteen year old had been completely awed at the gesture, and Tony had thought that younger teenager was actually going to cry. 

Almost immediately, Tony had started to regret the decision; Peter had quickly added him to what had turned out to be a group chat between all the people he had been introduced to at the gym - with the exception of Fury and James as far as Tony could tell.

Tony had tried to not be disappointed to learn that the one person whose number he wanted didn’t appear to be on the chat.

He had been surprised when he’d gotten a message on Saturday evening from an unknown number, and outside of the group chat that Peter had added him to.

It had been James, who had been on the chat all along and had taken Tony’s number and messaged him directly. And - more importantly -  privately.

Ever since then, he had spent almost all weekend switching his attention between Rhodey’s messages, the group chat with Peter and his conversation with James. He and the older man weren’t talking about anything in particular, but every time he saw a message from James, Tony couldn’t stop his stomach from flipping happily at the sight.

The messages he woke up to on Monday weren’t anything of import; mostly Peter and Ned talking about what was going to happen that evening, and Loki promising to bring some alcohol for them to drink. Tony didn’t even want to know where he was planning on getting the alcohol from, considering he was pretty sure it involved theft.

He replied to the last message James had sent him, wishing him good morning before getting up and heading into the bathroom to get ready for the day. 

School was going to drag even more than it normally did, he just knew it.

*

As soon as the final bell rang, Tony was out of his seat and on his way to the car before anyone else had even moved from their desks.

Peter had asked to be picked up at the gym, despite Tony’s insistence that he could pick him up from the younger teenager’s house. 

Tony tried to not feel insulted at Peter not wanting him to know where he lived, but he tried to push that feeling to the side. Even though Peter had decided that Tony was now one of his best friends, they barely knew each other. It made sense for Peter to not want a stranger to know where he lived.

When he pulled up to the laundromat, Peter and Ned were just crossing the road from the apartments opposite and Tony immediately felt like an idiot for making assumptions. 

It wasn’t that Peter didn’t want Tony to know where he lived; he was picking Peter up at the gym, because he literally lived directly opposite and it really was easier.

“Hi!” Peter greeted, enthusiastic as ever as he opened the door and climbed into the passenger seat while Ned followed suit in the back of the car.

Tony smiled and returned the greeting, nodding to Ned as they pulled away from the kerb.

“Where’s Bucky?” Peter asked, twisting around in his seat as though he expected James to be hiding behind him. “I thought he would be riding with us.”

Confusion shot through Tony and he frowned deeply. “He’s riding with Steve,” he answered without thinking about it; not realising that he had just given away that he’d been speaking to James more than anything over the last few days. 

“Why would he be riding with us?” he asked, coughing nervously as he suddenly felt afraid of what Peter’s response was going to be.

Innocence crossed Peter’s face - which Tony didn’t believe for a second - and he shook his head. “No reason,” he murmured, turning his attention away from Tony and gazing out of the window. “You’ve been hanging out with each other a lot lately; I just thought he would be coming with us.”

Tony felt his cheeks flame at Peter’s words. He hadn’t realised that his blossoming friendship with James had been noticed by the others at the gym. He was about to change the subject when he realised there was something in Peter’s tone that hadn’t been there before and he frowned. 

“You’re not jealous, are you?” Tony asked, trying to make it sound like he was kidding, but he was actually feeling worried that Peter really was jealous.

This time it was Peter’s turn to flush in embarrassment. “No,” he obviously lied. “I’m glad you’re making more friends.”

Keeping his eyes on the road, Tony reached over and placed a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Don’t worry,” he soothed the fourteen-year-old, only mocking him a little, “you’re still my favourite science nerd.”

Behind them, Ned let out a loud laugh, but it was Peter’s feelings Tony was more concerned about. Based on the large grin that spread across his face, Tony was pretty sure he was forgiven for paying more attention to James.

Which was good, because giving up his friendship with James was the last thing Tony wanted.

*

Three hours, two beers and the largest bag of chips later, Tony was sitting on a bench in the clearing they’d found, watching a slightly tipsy Peter challenge Ned to a wizard’s dual with two sticks he’d found. To Ned’s credit, he was still mostly sober and tried to resist, but Tony had figured out pretty quickly that there were certain people you could say no to.

Peter Parker was not on that list.

Eventually Ned relented and they began ‘duelling’ in earnest, forgetting about the other teenagers around them. Tony included.

Tony rolled his eyes at the younger teenagers’ antics and glanced around, looking for something else to occupy his time. Everyone else was standing around in small groups, talking amongst themselves. It seemed like a shame to interrupt them, Tony thought to himself.

Continuing to scan the area, his eyes landed on the only person who was on his own. James was sitting on the hood of his car across the small space, holding a bottle loosely in his hands as he watched his friends with an expression that was impossible to read in the low light provided by the car’s headlamps.

Tony’s mind was made up for him without him even realising it. Without thinking about what he was doing, he got up from where he had been sitting and headed over to James, grabbing two bottles of beer on his way over.

When he realised Tony was heading in his direction, James raised his bottle in a salute but made no effort to get off the car.

“This seat taken?” Tony asked as he drew closer, nodding to the space beside James on the hood.

Surprise crossed James’s face, but it was gone in the blink of an eye and he shook his head, sliding to the side in a wordless invitation for Tony to join him.

“Grabbed you a beer,” Tony murmured, holding the bottle out as he situated himself beside James. “You’ve been over here for so long, I’d be surprised if there was anything left in that one,” he nodded to the older bottle James had been holding in his right hand.

James glanced down at his hand with a confused expression, as though he had forgotten he already had a drink. “Oh,” he murmured. “I haven’t drunk any of it.”

Tony raised an eyebrow at the words. That was unusual, he thought to himself. Every single other person at the party had been seen with at least one drink - even those who had declared themselves the designated drivers.

_I wonder why he’s not drinking._

The question was on the tip of Tony’s tongue and he desperately wanted to ask it, but thankfully his verbal filter kicked in and he chose something less personal. He hoped.

“How come you’re over here on your own?” Tony asked, unscrewing the cap of his own bottle and taking a swig.

James didn’t answer for a moment and Tony immediately started berating himself. He barely knew the other teenager; just because he thought he was hot and they spoke to each other via text message, didn’t give him a right to stick his nose into other people’s lives.

Just when Tony was about to run away - leave the other man alone with his thoughts when that was clearly what he wanted - James finally started to speak.

“Wasn’t feelin’ too sociable,” James’s voice was so quiet it was almost lost over the sounds of the party going on around them. “Not since the accident, I…” He shook his head. “Steve doesn’t get it.”

Tony suddenly felt out of his depth. He wasn’t used to being the one having a serious conversation, and yet here he was. It wasn’t like he could back out of it, either. He had initiated the conversation in the first place.

“You’re his hero,” Tony stated, earning him a surprised look from James. He blushed a little under the scrutiny but refused to look away. “I know we don’t each other well, but I’ve seen you two at the gym often enough to see how he feels about you. He looks at you like you’re his entire world. His hero can’t be fallible.”

A blush coloured James’s cheeks, but he didn’t argue and Tony knew it because it was true.

“Just like Peter looks at you,” James pointed out, a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. “Ever since you arrived at the gym, he’s done nothing but talk about how amazing _Tony Stark_ is.”

Tony laughed. “I don’t know why,” he confessed, running a hand over the back of his head. “I’m a dick, but he thinks I’m the best person he’s ever seen in his life.”

“You’re not a dick,” James argued with a small laugh of his own.

The genius raised an eyebrow. “How would you even know?” he challenged. “We’ve only been talking for a couple of days. I could be lulling you into a false sense of security.”

A grin spread across James’s face and he shrugged his shoulders, letting out a hiss almost immediately as a pained look crossed his face.

“Are you okay?” Tony asked, not able to stop himself this time.

Conflict crossed James’s face and Tony was sure he was going to lie to him; was going to brush aside how he was feeling with a flippant remark. It’s what Tony would have done, after all.

Instead, he sighed and ran his hand over his face. “When the temperature starts to drop, my shoulder starts hurting again,” James replied.

“Ah,” Tony hummed with a small nod. He opened his mouth to say what was on his mind, only to immediate snap it closed when he realised that he had been about to ask a question which was far too personal for their first conversation.

Beside him, James waved his hand. “Go ahead. Ask,” he instructed. There was no anger or irritation in his voice, so Tony took it as a good sign that he was okay to ask what he had been wanting to know for weeks.

“What happened?” Tony asked softly. “It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me,” he added honestly. He knew that was he was asking was so not within the realm of politeness, and he wanted to give James a get-out-of-jail free card if he wanted to take it.

“It’s fine,” James assured him, running his fingers over the label on the bottle he was now holding between his knees. “A week after my sixteenth birthday, I ran a red light. Ended up trapped under my bike and an eighteen wheeler.”

Tony let out an involuntary gasp of horror and his hand flew up to cover his mouth at James’s revelation. He had figured that whatever happened to the other teenager had been an accident of some kind, but he had never imagined it would be something like _that_.

“I’m so sorry,” Tony murmured, his voice muffled by the hand over his mouth.

James raised a questioning eyebrow and turned to face the other teenager. “What do you have to be sorry for?” he asked incredulously. “I’m the idiot that ran a red.” He waved his hand to indicate to where his left arm was missing. “This is completely my fault, but it could have been much worse.”

Logically Tony knew that James was right; there were a lot more things that could have been lost in the accident besides his arm (namely his life!). But at that moment, Tony was struggling to see how there could be anything worse than being in an accident of that caliber at sixteen.

Blue eyes narrowed when James realised Tony hadn’t said anything in response to his admission. “I didn’t tell you so you could feel sorry for me,” he grumbled, finally succeeding in pulling the label from his bottle.

“I don’t feel sorry for you!” Tony exclaimed with a shake of his head. When James raised an eyebrow, he amended himself, “Well, I _do_ … But I’m mostly sorry you had to go through something like that. I’m not _pitying_ you,” he swore.

James didn’t reply immediately, pursing his lips as he considered what Tony was saying and as he tried to decide if the younger man was telling him the truth. “Okay,” he eventually whispered, voice almost getting lost in the sounds of the pier around them.

Tony offered him a relieved smile when he was sure that James wasn’t going to get mad at him and tell him to get lost.

*

Tony couldn’t remember the last time he had been in the Stark Industries building of his own accord. Howard like to drag him through the building occasionally to show his heir off to his employees.

Stepping foot inside the company that would one day be his had never been high on Tony’s list of priorities.

But now he had an ulterior motive and he wasn’t willing to go through Howard. Nope, he was going to get what he wanted his way.

The security of the building in the middle of Mid-Town had been tightened since the last time Tony had visited, but he wasn’t too concerned. He was the boss’s kid, after all; there weren’t many people who were going to stop him.

Years earlier, Howard had gotten him a card which granted him access to most areas of the building. There weren’t many places the CEO had thought to keep Tony out of; Tony wasn’t sure if that had been an oversight on Howard’s part, or if he genuinely didn’t care what his son got up to, as long as it kept Tony out of his hair.

Not that Tony was ever going to complain; it made getting out of Howard’s sight easier, and came in handy when he wanted to break in.

Like now.

A few people threw him confused glances as he passed, but none of them thought to question him and Tony was able to make his way through the corridors unchallenged.

Since it was first thing on a Saturday morning, the SHIELD admin offices were running on a skeleton staff; all the better for Tony’s (probably illegal) plan.

He had never bothered to learn what SHIELD stood for and was sure he had been told at some point, but he didn’t care. All he cared about was what they specialised in.

The creation and improvement of bionic and artificial limbs. 

Mostly the people who were referred to SHIELD were injured vets - which made Tony think that Howard had created the subdivision out of some kind of survivors guilt from his time in the military.

But that wasn’t what Tony was interested in. Occasionally, to make the company look good to their stakeholders, they offered their services to a civilian; free of charge as long as the person was willing to go through check ups four times a year for the foreseeable future. For research purposes.

Tony held his breath as he slid down into the seat of the only computer in the room which was powered on. Still, no one had come out of the adjoining lab, but he didn’t want to waste anytime. It wouldn’t be long, and if he got caught he didn’t even want to _think_ about what Howard would do.

Seriously, being forced to go to a gym in Queens would be a walk in the park compared to what his father would dish out then.

Logging onto the workstation was disturbingly easy; seriously, Zoe really needed to use something other than her date of birth as her password.

Having never seen the referral system before, it took Tony a moment to get his bearings and figure out what he needed to do. When he did, he didn’t waste anymore time.

Diving straight into the referral system, Tony saw that there were three Iraqi war veterans who were due to be brought into the programme in a week.

In the search function Tony typed in James’s full name, remembering to include the Buchanan, and thumped the enter button. He was fully expecting to have to narrow it down further, after having to work out when James had been born from the comment he had made about being twenty.

Of course, he had underestimated how rare it was for anyone else to be called ‘James Buchanan Barnes’.

The computer pinged quietly and Tony smiled when only one result was displayed. The date of birth lined up with what he had worked out as well (the fact that he made a mental note of James’s birthday being October 3rd was a complete accident).

_Fuck, I hope it’s the right person_.

He didn’t want to open the medical record that SHIELD had obtained; probably through means Tony didn’t even want to think about.

That would be too big an invasion of privacy, even for Tony.

Instead, Tony ignored the temptation and focused on the task at hand. 

Alongside James’s record were a number of options and statistics; there was no date for when he would be called upon to participate in the trial, which meant that it likely wouldn’t be any time soon, if at all.

Well, Tony was going to change that.

He wasn’t enough of a dick to bump one of the Vets down the list, so he simply left four of them being the next ones to be called up.

Tony had just clicked save, returned the computer to its previously locked state and moved away when the door to the lab opened and a middle aged woman stepped through.

Zoe drew up in surprise when she saw that the office wasn’t as empty as it had been when she’d left.

“Mr Stark?” she exclaimed, her dark eyes widened when she saw Howard’s son was standing in front of her. “What are you doing here?”

All the years of lying to Howard quickly became useful as Tony pouted and shifted his gaze downward. “Hiding from my dad,” he whispered, cracking a grin when Zoe hummed understandingly. It was no secret among the staff that Howard could be a bit of a tyrant when he wanted.

“He’s not going to be happy when he finds that you’ve slipped away,” Zoe pointed out.

Tony shrugged, plastering a look of ‘what are you gonna do?’ across this face. 

Zoe chuckled and put her hand Tony’s shoulder, steering him toward the door. “Get going, you little trouble maker,” she laughed, shaking her head as Tony offered her a grin before he was on his way.

*

As had become the norm on the days he was in Queens, James was waiting for Tony as he pulled up to the gym two days later.

“Steve’s going to start getting jealous if you keep spending all your free time with me,” Tony commented by way of greeting as he stepped out of the car and slammed the door shut behind him.

James scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Are you kidding? He’s _far_ too excited that I’ve been making new friends to be jealous.”

Tony grinned and fell into step beside his friend. He loved these moments, when he could be with James without anyone around, even if it was as nothing more than friends. 

His brown eyes fell down to the empty space that was between James’s body and Tony’s. There was still no prothetic arm, curtesy of SHIELD. Tony was dying to ask if James had heard anything about the program, but he didn’t want to give away what he had done.

Hell, it was entirely possible that Zoe had figured out what he had done and taken James off their records completely, which would mean that there was no way he would ever get a SHIELD product - at least until Tony took over SI and could influence what happened directly without having to worry about Howard.

“Stark!” They both jumped in surprise at the sound of Nick Fury’s voice bellowing at Tony from the open door to his office. “What the hell are you still doing here?”

Tony frowned deeply and glanced at James who looked just as confused as he felt. “What?” he asked, wincing at how ineloquent he sounded.

Fury stared at him with an incredulous expression on his face. Tony got the distinct impression that he was wondering what he had done to land himself with such idiots.

“The Foundation said you were only gonna be here for six weeks,” Fury eventually said when he realised that Tony had no idea what he was talking about.

Tony felt his jaw drop open in surprise. A quick look over at James told him he was feeling the same way. “What?” he spluttered.

There was another moment of surprise before Fury rolled his eye and muttered under his breath about stupid teenagers.

Neither James nor Tony moved, both of them trying to process what Fury had said, but James was the first to speak.

“Looks like that’s it,” Bucky whispered.

A bolt of _something_ shot through Tony’s chest and he quickly identified it as fear. There was no way he was going to leave the gym now, not when he was only just getting to know James (and the others, but mostly James).

Pushing the fear to one side, Tony snorted and shook his head. “Well, that definitely sounds like my dad. Of course he’s not going to tell me; make me ask when my punishment will be over,” he muttered.

A crestfallen look settled over James’s face and Tony had to bite back a grin. “Well, the joke’s on him,” Tony continued, earning him a surprised look from James. “Because I’m actually having fun here,” he admitted.

“Really?” James breathed, staring at Tony with wide blue eyes.

Tony finally allowed himself a grin as he nodded his head. “Providing you guys aren’t sick of me, at least.”

James rolled his eyes. “I guess we could cope with having you around,” he murmured, although the corners of his mouth were twitching up in a smile that gave away how he really felt.

Tony grinned at him even as they both turned to face Fury.

When he realised that they were looking at him, the older man rolled his eye. “Don’t look at me; I’d prefer if you weren’t here. One less annoying brat to worry about,” Fury grumbled, turning on his heel and heading back into his office.

Both James and Tony burst out laughing at his words, and James shook his head. “Ignore him,” he advised when they had recovered enough to speak. “We know he loves us really.”

“You wish, Barnes!” Fury’s voice yelled from inside his office, making the pair laugh even harder. “Get out of here, you reprobates.”

Still chuckling to himself, James reached out and grabbed hold of Tony’s hand. “Come on, let’s go tell Peter his best friend isn’t leaving before Fury kills us!”

*

Tony couldn’t remember the last time he had concentrated so hard. 

Even when he was doing his schoolwork, he didn’t pay as much attention as he was doing then. Most people probably thought his priorities were skewed, but he didn’t care.

This was more important that schoolwork.

“How’s it coming?” Jarvis asked, stepping up behind Tony and glancing over his shoulder.

At first Tony didn’t respond, too busy focusing on not messing up. When he had finished the last flick of frosting, he finally lowered the piping bag and looked up at the British man.

“It’s not my best work,” he replied, glancing at the cake and frowning slightly. “But I think it’s acceptable.”

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Jarvis pursing his lips as the older man shook his head. “You’re always so critical on yourself. It looks as perfect as it always does.”

Tony felt a blush colour his cheeks and he glanced away from Jarvis; he was already feeling emotional - always did on these days - and didn’t need any encouragement from Jarvis to cry.

Because he was a perfectionist, Tony couldn’t resist putting a few more finishing touches on the frosting. Even when Jarvis tried to pull him away, he still managed to add a few extra bits.

Piping frosting wasn’t a skill most people would associate with him, Tony knew, and it wasn’t something he broadcasted, but he’d always found baking relaxing. Most of his happiest memories from childhood revolved around the kitchen and making cakes with the kitchen staff.

To stop Tony from making any more last minute adjustments, Jarvis placed a hand on the teenager’s arm and steered him away from the counter. 

It didn’t take long for Jarvis to place the cake in the tin he always used to transport Tony’s baked goods and, before they knew it, the pair of them were heading out of the house.

Ever since he’d gotten his license, Tony had always insisted on driving the both of them. It was an emotional day for them - Jarvis more so, for obvious reasons - and Tony wanted to make it easier for the man who had raised him.

They chatted idly as Tony drove them across the city, both of them a little too pre-occupied with their destination to have a deep and meaningful conversation.

As always, the parking lot was almost empty as Tony pulled into the space nearest the entrance. He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen it busy, which filled him with an infinite sense of sadness.

“Mr Jarvis! Mr Stark! Just on time,” the receptionist greeted the pair of them as soon as they stepped through the double doors.

Jarvis, who had relaxed marginally since getting out of the car, offered the perky blonde behind the desk a smile. It was only because Tony knew him so well that he could tell there was anything wrong.

“Nice to see you again, Daphne,” Jarvis greeted, handing Tony the cake tin he was holding so he could sign the two of them in.

Tony didn’t speak, but grinned at the woman who had been working there for as long as he could remember.

When she was happy that they were accounted for, Daphne handed them visitor badges and smiled at them again. “She’s waiting for you,” she said softly, her eyes twinkling in a way that told Tony she thought their visits were the cutest things ever.

Jarvis thanked her and made a move to take the cake from Tony, but the teenager shook his head. “I’m fine,” he murmured, urging Jarvis away from the receptionist’s desk.

The door to the room they were heading for was open, proving that Daphne had been correct and their presence was indeed expected. Tony couldn’t suppress a smile at that; it was clearly a good day, which he knew had been few and far between lately.

Tony hung back a little, letting Jarvis step into the room first, although he didn’t wait for too long - the last thing he wanted was to get in trouble for thinking he wasn’t welcome.

Ana Jarvis was sitting in the corner of her room, the large armchair making her looking so much smaller than she was. She looked more tired than she had the last time Tony had seen her, which made the teenager sad. But there was still a familiar sparkle in her green eyes which only seemed to get brighter when she turned her gaze to Tony.

“Anthony,” Ana whispered, a toothy grin spreading across her face.

Unlike when Howard called him his full name, when that word passed Ana’s lips all Tony felt was love and warmth spread through his chest. He couldn’t have stopped himself from returning the smile even if he wanted to.

“Happy Birthday, Mama Ana,” Tony replied, placing the cake down on the sideboard and moving across the room. 

As he pressed a soft kiss on her cheek, he felt her hands land on his shoulders and couldn’t help noticing the lack of strength in her grip. She was getting weaker, he knew it, but didn’t want to admit it - not even to himself.

“You’ve always been such a good boy,” Ana murmured, running a fragile hand over the stubble Tony had been _trying_ to grow (it wasn’t working as well as he had hoped it would).

Tony smiled bashfully and ducked his head as he stepped away to give the Jarvis’s some time to reconnect after a few weeks of not seeing each other. Ana and Jarvis had always had more faith in him than Howard had. Even Maria’s affections had paled in comparison to the love and affection Tony had received from the married couple - Ana in particular.

He set about taking the cake from the tin as Jarvis and Ana discussed what she had done over the last few weeks; although, he wasn’t sure how much of what she said was the truth considering her short term memory wasn’t as good as it had been.

Even if what she was telling Jarvis wasn’t accurate, it still felt good to hear Ana sounding so happy and relaxed.

“Darling,” Jarvis said, cutting through Tony’s thoughts, “Tony made you a birthday cake.”

Ana gasped happily and turned to face Tony, beaming from ear to ear. “Is it chocolate cake?” she asked with an almost childlike enthusiasm. 

Tony chuckled affectionately and threw her a mock chiding look. “Would I really make anything else for my favourite girl?” he replied, winking at her as he stepped to the side to show that the cake he had made was indeed chocolate.

She made a cooing sound and Tony could tell she was having to stop herself from clapping her hands in excitement. “Oh you are such a wonderful, boy,” she said, reaching out her hand. Without hesitation, Tony slid his into hers and tried desperately to not frown at the lack of strength when she squeezed it. 

“You’re going to make a young man very happy some day,” she added, patting the back of his hand and smiling serenely as though there wasn’t anything unusual about what she had said.

Tony jolted in surprise at her words, his eyes widening in what he was sure was a comically impossible way. He had never spoken to Ana about his preferences - outside his friends, Jarvis was the only one who knew Tony was gay. It hadn’t been an intentional thing to keep the truth from her, but she had starting having trouble with her memory at the same time. Burdening either of them with his sexuality had seemed like the least important thing. 

Beside her, even Jarvis looked surprised at the words his wife had just said, which confirmed to Tony that he hadn’t told her. Not that Tony had thought he would, or cared either way.

They must have been silent for too long because Ana frowned, glancing between her husband and Tony. Suddenly a look of fear spread across her face. “Oh gosh,” she murmured, placing her hand across her mouth. “Was I not supposed to say anything?”

The distress in her voice snapped Tony out of the surprise induced daze he had been in and he hurried to reassure her, crouching in front of her chair and reaching for her hands. “It’s fine,” he whispered, running his thumbs over her knuckles. “I’m just surprised. I didn’t realise you knew.”

Confusion crossed Ana’s face. “I’ve always known,” she told him, the tone of her voice suggesting it was the one of the stupidest things Tony had ever said. “I’ve always known you were special.”

Tears welled up in the corners of Tony’s eyes and he leant forward, pressing his lips against the back of her hand as he tried to not cry. “I love you, Ana,” he said against her skin.

Without lifting his head, he felt Ana lean forward in her chair so she could press a kiss against the back of his head. “I love you too, my beautiful boy,” she replied, her voice just as quiet as his own.

*

By the time Tony had arrived in Queens, he was feeling emotionally wrought and actually wanted nothing more than to have a strong drink of something alcoholic; preferably some of Howard’s best scotch.

Since he wasn’t suicidal, Tony had dropped Jarvis off at home and headed to the gym. Maybe if he beat up enough punching bags, he would feel better.

Seeing Ana always made Tony feel like he had been through the emotional ringer. Even though she was getting the best care possible - curtesy of Tony, who used some of his monthly allowance to cover all costs, despite regular arguments from Jarvis - he still felt like he was letting her down somehow. 

Jarvis always retired to his room earlier than normal on days when they visited Ana. He never said anything to Tony, but the teenager knew that it was hard on the older man to see his usually vivacious wife a shell of her former self.

Tony always offered to stay with Jarvis, but the Brit was insistent that he preferred to be alone with his thoughts; especially when they had visited on one of Ana’s not so good days.

That was the only reason why Tony had made his way to the Wolves’ gym.

Hopefully the distraction of James would take his mind away from the sadness he felt whenever he thought about Ana.

To his surprise, James wasn’t waiting for him when Tony finally pulled up to the gym, and the teenage genius couldn’t help frowning deeply.

He couldn’t stop the feeling of nervousness settling in his stomach as he climbed out of the car, and checked his phone.

There were no messages from James, he realised, and the older man had read the message Tony had sent him that morning. But he hadn’t replied yet.

Something was wrong, Tony could feel it. 

James had been waiting for, and texting him for _weeks_ now, and him to be missing now was setting off all of Tony’s alarm bells.

With more trepidation than he had been feeling since his first visit to the gym, Tony stepped through the doors, his eyes immediately darting around the room, looking for James.

He let out a sigh of relief when he saw James sitting on the weight bench, fastening the laces on his sneakers, frowning as the fingers of his generic prosthetic refused to co-operate with what he wanted.

Slowly, as though he was approaching a wild animal that was going to bolt if he moved too fast, Tony stepped closer to James. “Hey,” he greeted, trying to plaster a grin on his face so as not to betray how nervous he felt.

James didn’t immediately reply and Tony felt more dread settle in his stomach. Just when Tony was going to attempt to babble his way out of whatever he had done to piss off James, a rolled up ball of paper thumped against his chest, before falling to the floor.

Tony stared at the other man in surprise, but James wasn’t looking at him, he was rummaging in his gym bag with his back to Tony.

He reached down, grabbed the paper and, with shaking hands, unfolded it.

It was an appointment letter, Tony quickly realised as his eyes skimmed the writing before him. An appointment to begin preparing James for the custom arm SHIELD would create for him.

Tony was about to ask what it was about the letter that was causing James to be so pissed with _him_ , when his eyes fell on the text printed at the bottom of the page.

_Well, fuck me._

The letter was on SHIELD printed paper which, the bottom of the page announced, was a part of Stark Industries.

“James…” Tony whispered, lowering the paper and looking at the other man. His thoughts were running a thousand miles an hour, but he couldn’t think of a single thing to say that would make the situation better.

“Isn’t it time you got back to your little rich friends?” James spat, cutting through whatever response Tony hadn’t been able to think of.

Tony recoiled as though he had been hit. He’d never heard James speak like that, especially not aimed at him. It felt like he’d been stabbed in the stomach.

“What?” he shook his head. “It’s not…”

“Save it,” James snapped, finally turning and looking up at Tony. There was a look of pure fury on his face. “You know, I didn’t trust you when you first got here. Thought you were nothing more than a spoiled brat who was trying to look good for his college applications.”

Tony opened his mouth, but James wasn’t finished. “Turns out, I was right.”

“No!” Tony exclaimed, dropping the letter and taking a step closer to James, only for the other to step away from him with a look of disgust. “You don’t… Please let me explain,” he begged; something he had never thought he would do in his life, but right then he didn’t care - Tony would have done anything if it meant James stopped looking at him like he was worse than the devil himself.

“There’s nothing to explain,” James stated, grabbing his water bottle from where he had discarded it. “I trusted - _we_ trusted - you, but all you’ve been doing is trying to make us your little project. Well, you can stop now, because we don’t want you here anymore.”

James turned on his heel and stalked away from Tony, heading over to the staircase. “Don’t let the door hit you on your way out.”

*

The following morning, when his alarm sounded for school, Tony made no effort to get up and ready for the day.

When he hadn’t made his appearance thirty minutes later, there was a light knock on the door before it opened. 

“I messed up,” Tony stated, not looking up from where he was buried under the blankets.

He didn’t need to look up to know who was behind him; he didn’t even think Howard knew which of the house’s twelve bedrooms was Tony’s.

Jarvis’s footsteps drew closer before Tony felt the mattress dip under his weight. “I doubt that,” Jarvis whispered, running his fingers through the hair at the back of Tony’s head.

Scoffing as he did so, Tony rolled onto his back so he could look up at Jarvis. “I did,” he insisted. He screwed his eyes closed and pressed the heels of his hands against them. “You know James?” he asked eventually, lowering his hands and looking up at Jarvis to gauge his reaction.

“The young man at the gym you’ve been volunteering at,” Jarvis replied easily. “He lost his arm in a motorcycle accident, I believe?”

Tony nodded his head. “He’s… He’s been struggling getting used to the prosthetic arm the hospital provided him with,” Tony informed him. A knowing look appeared on Jarvis’s face, but he didn’t interrupt the teenager in front. “I thought I could help him, so I referred him to the Prosthetic Department at SI, and now he hates me.”

Tony could feel tears welling up in the corners of his eyes, and he hated himself for it. He hadn’t cried since the day after Maria’s funeral when he and Jarvis had held a private memorial for her.

_And now I’m crying over a_ boy _. Jeez, Stark, grow a pair would you?_

He started in surprise when Jarvis placed a hand on Tony’s arm. “Did you ask James how he felt about being referred?” he asked, his voice completely free of judgement.

Tony shook his head, not able to stop a tear falling from his eye. “I thought he’d be happy, because I was doing something to help him.”

An affectionate look appeared on Jarvis’s face. “Oh, Tony,” he whispered, before apparently deciding to throw away all pretence that he wasn’t more Tony’s dad than Howard. He shifted on the bed so he was leaning back against the headboard, and pulled Tony into his arms - thankfully he’d slept in pyjamas the night before.

“It’s hard for some people to accept help from others,” Jarvis said, pressing his lips against Tony’s hair.

In his arms, Tony stiffened but before he could protest, Jarvis continued, “None of this is your fault, Tony. And I don’t know him, but I would bet that James simply feels overwhelmed at the generosity you’ve shown him.”

“Sure as hell doesn’t feel like it,” Tony muttered.

He left out a yelp of surprise when Jarvis pushed him away, before placing a hand under his chin so they could look into each other’s eyes. “When you don’t come from money it’s hard to accept charity, no matter how well intentioned it is or who that aide comes from.”

Tony felt his cheeks flame with embarrassment and he couldn’t believe how stupid he was. Of course James would see Tony’s actions as charity; even though Tony had only wanted to make life easier for the boy he…

His thoughts broke off abruptly when he realised that Jarvis was looking at him with a knowing sparkle in his eyes.

“Why don’t you explain everything to him?” Jarvis suggested gently. “Tell him what you were thinking when you made the referral, and _definitely_ tell him how you really feel.”

Tony ducked his head nervously, even if he couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth turning up in a smile. He wasn’t surprised that Jarvis had figured out what his real feelings for James were; he really did know Tony better than he knew himself sometimes.

But what Jarvis was suggesting was far easier said than done.

“I would if he answered my calls,” Tony replied, trying desperately to not whine. He had been trying to calling James all night, but every single call had gone through to voicemail. He hadn’t bothered leaving a message - it would have only been deleted without being read, he just knew.

To his surprise, Jarvis chuckled and leant forward, pressing a kiss against his forehead. “If only you knew somewhere he would be after school…”

*

The door to the gym creaked loudly behind him, taking away Tony’s attempt at a silent arrival.

James was standing in the centre of the boxing ring, with his back to the door.

“Get lost on your way to the Country Club?” James asked without turning around, knowing instinctively that it was Tony behind him.

Every fibre in Tony’s being was telling him to run in the opposite direction, that James wasn’t going to listen to a word he had to say. But there was a small voice in the back of his mind - which sounded annoyingly like Jarvis - telling him that he would forever regret it if he didn’t at least try to explain everything to James.

“Can you please look at me?” Tony begged.

There was a moment of silence where Tony was sure that James was going to ignore him. Just when he was going to give up - if James wouldn’t co-operate, what else could he do? - the older man finally turned around. He didn’t speak, though.

“I can’t apologise for what I did,” Tony began before cursing himself mentally. He hadn’t meant to open with _that_.

_For a genius, you are sure are a dumb fucker, Tony Stark_.

James raised an eyebrow. “Why not?” he challenged.

“Because I’m not sorry,” Tony replied with a simple shrug of his shoulders. He was already fucking everything up, he might as well go the whole way since he was probably never going to see James again. “Not for referring you, at least.”

The other didn’t speak or move away from him, so Tony took that as a good sign that he wasn’t going to get his ass handed to him. Not yet, at least.

“You’re not comfortable with the arm the hospital gave you. I knew SI could help, so why wouldn’t I bump you up the list?”

James scoffed and ran a hand over his face. “I can’t believe you,” he muttered, shaking his head. “All that intelligence and you still don’t get it…”

“No!” Tony exclaimed, leaping forward when it looked as though James was going to leave. “I do. Trust me, I get it. But I need _you_ to get it too.”

He raised an eyebrow and waited for Tony to explain what the hell he was talking about. “I’m a rich asshole, I know it. It’s not something I chose but, no offence, I’m not planning on giving up the money any time soon.”

James rolled his eyes, but Tony continued on regardless, “I throw my money around more than anything else. Especially when it comes to people I care about; just ask Rhodey. Actually… Don’t do that; I don’t even want to think about the two of you in the same place. That’s horrifying.”

He broke off with a shudder and glanced over at James, who looked like he was struggling to suppress a grin at the action.

“Rhodey told me that he doesn’t like me buying him things, so I do things for him in other ways. I _knew_ you’d think the same way - it must be the name,” Tony babbled, not able to stop himself as he paced across the small space. “That’s why I referred you; it’s not technically me that’s helping you, then.”

Tony let out a huff and threw his arms up in the air. “And, of course, I’ve fucked everything up. Just like I always do. Howard always says that whatever I touch turns to shit, so I don’t know I’m surprised.”

His words were cut off when James’s flesh hand landed over his mouth, silencing it for the first time in longer than Tony could remember.

“Don’t you dare talk about yourself like that, doll,” James said, the barely there Brooklyn accent growing stronger with every syllable. His previous anger appeared to have vanished, to be replaced with a different kind of ire; this time aimed at Tony for bringing himself down. 

“You haven’t fucked anything up,” he insisted, moving his hand away from Tony’s mouth but not taking a step back.

Tony frowned and looked up at the other teenager, cursing the fact that he was so short for the thousandth time since he had met James. “But, you…”

An affectionate smile crossed James’s face. “Yes, I’m pissed at ‘ya - I’m not some kind of charity case - but… I’d like to think that I know you by now. You don’t have a malicious bone in your body.” Tony made a mental note to make sure James _never_ found out about the whole incident with Clint. 

“Plus, I gotta admit, it feels _nice_ to have someone other than Steve care about me, and not look at me in pity.”

“I don’t pity you,” Tony corrected, with a shake of his head. “If anything, I’d say it’s the exact opposite.” James looked at him in confusion and Tony offered him a small smile. “James, I’ve been attracted to you since the moment I laid eyes on you when I first got here.”

A surprised look crossed James’s face. “Really?” he breathed.

Tony laughed and rolled his eyes. “Are you seriously telling me you couldn’t tell? It’s been so hard to keep my hands to myself whenever I’m within three feet of you.”

James chuckled and shook his head, running his flesh hand over his face. “I’ve been trying my hardest to not think about you like that,” he confessed, a light blush colouring his stubbled cheeks. “Steve told me that I was projecting my feelings onto you, and it was wrong to think of you in that way since you’re younger than me.”

Tony’s eyes narrowed in a glare. Not at James, but at Steve. He had liked the smaller man, but to hear that he had talked James out of making a move on Tony, made him want to hunt Steve down and hit him. Even if it was likely to break a bone if Tony did so.

“My friend’s been telling me the same thing, as well,” Tony admitted, taking a step closer to James. Thankfully, this time he didn’t step away. “Keeps telling me that I shouldn’t be bothering with a guy who was so much older than me.”

The smile on James’s face fell, but Tony wasn’t done talking. “He hasn’t realised by now that I’m not very good at doing what other people tell me to do.”

James’s blue eyes widened a fraction as he took in the implication of what Tony _wasn’t_ saying. They were silent for another moment, before he relaxed marginally.

A lazy smile spread across James’s face and he took a step closer to the younger teenager. “I’m real glad about that,” he whispered. “Otherwise this would be super inappropriate.”

Tony thought he had said something in response to those words but he couldn’t remember because his brain had short circuited the moment their lips met.

He let out a gasp and his hands flew up to grab something to anchor himself with. That anchor happened to be James’s biceps and he groaned in delight at the feeling of muscle under his left hand, and unyielding plastic under his right.

“I’ve wanted to do that since the night in the woods,” James whispered when they parted for air. He brushed his nose against Tony’s as they panted, neither of them wanting to move too far away from the other.

Tony raised an eyebrow. “That was almost a month ago,” he pointed out. James shrugged a shoulder and Tony chuckled, pressing a soft kiss at the corner of his mouth. “I’m going to _kill_ Strange when I get my hands on him,” he muttered darkly. “We could have been making out this entire time.”

James rolled his eyes, tightening his grip on Tony marginally. “I’ll be your alibi for the murder, if you’ll be mine for when I kill Steve,” he bargained, making the teenager laugh. 

“Deal,” Tony agreed, pulling James even closer and pressing their lips against each other once more, pushing all thoughts of killing their friends out of their minds.

For now, at least.

*

Seven Months Later

Howard didn’t attend Tony’s graduation.

The Stark Patriarch claimed he had an important business meeting in Los Angeles, but no one had actually believed what he was saying.

Not that Tony actually cared. He’d only even told Howard when the ceremony was as a matter of courtesy and because Jarvis had wanted him to. He had no desire for his father to attend.

Jarvis, Rhodey and James all attended. As far as Tony was concerned, they were the only family he had, and their opinion was all that mattered.

All throughout the ceremony, Tony and James had been throwing each other suggestive looks when they thought no-one was looking, only for Jarvis to purse his lips in disapproval at their actions, which made them laugh even more knowing that they had been caught.

By the time the ceremony was over, Tony was ready to jump James right there and then - screw whoever was around.

Unfortunately for them both, but luckily for every one else, Jarvis got to Tony first.

“I’m so proud of you,” he cooed as soon as Tony was close enough to pull into his arms.

Tony felt his cheeks colour at the obvious display of affection from the person he thought of as more of a father figure than Howard. “It’s not that big a deal,” he murmured, burying his face in Jarvis’s shoulder in an attempt to hide how embarrassed he was at the attention.

He felt a hand clap him on the back and looked up to see Rhodey looking at him with an equally proud expression on his face. “Being Valedictorian _is_ a big deal, Tones,” he pointed out, pulling his best friend into a hug as soon as Jarvis released him.

Tony didn’t answer as he hugged Rhodey back, but he had to agree that he was proud of himself. He wasn’t a big fan of public speaking, so had been nervous as hell leading up to giving his speech, but he didn’t think it had gone too bad.

The now-graduated student glanced over Rhodey’s shoulder and frowned when he saw James standing a little way back, looking nervous and out of place.

“Why are you all the way over there?” Tony asked, releasing Rhodey and stepping around him so he could move over to his boyfriend.

The older man offered him a bashful smile. “I didn’t want to intrude,” he whispered.

Tony rolled his eyes and grabbed James’s left hand. “I’ve already told you; you’re family now. Get used to it,” he ordered, pulling him closer and wrapping his arms around the taller man’s neck.

Now it was James’s turn for his cheeks to colour. “Congratulations, doll,” he murmured, wrapping his arms around Tony’s waist. “You did so well.”

James was the only one who knew how nervous Tony had been about giving his speech, and was the one Tony had practised in front of so many times James could probably have given the speech himself.

“All because of you, babe,” Tony retorted, pressing their lips together in a soft kiss which James eagerly returned.

When Tony’s tongue flickered out to lick at James’s lips, the other man pulled back with a small shake of his head. “Not here,” he whispered, running his flesh hand across Tony’s cheek.

Tony scowled and contemplated arguing that he didn’t care what people thought, but he knew there was no point. He knew that James was still a little uncomfortable at showing displays of affection in front of others because of their age difference.

He was pretty sure James would get over it soon and was usually willing to wait, but right then he wanted nothing more than to devour his boyfriend. Consequences be damned.

“We’ll see you when you get home, Tony,” Jarvis’s voice filtered through the surrounding noises and into Tony’s brain.

Tony blinked in surprise and turned to face the sandy-haired man. “Where am I going?” he asked, looking between James, Rhodey and Jarvis in confusion. As far as he knew, he’d been due to heading back to the manor and celebrating with the others.

Beside him, James laughed and placed a hand against his lower back. “Some times it’s good to not know everything, doll,” he replied.

Jarvis and Rhodey bid them goodbye, even as Tony still tried to figure out what was going on to no avail.

“You know I don’t like surprises,” Tony complained as James dragged him from the building, out to where his car was waiting for them.

James let out a dry laugh. “Trust me, I’m more than aware of that.” Tony opened his mouth, but James added, “Don’t mean I’m going to tell you where we’re going, though.”

A pout appeared on Tony’s face and he folded his arms across his chest petulantly. He contemplated standing his ground and not moving until James fessed up, but he knew that wasn’t ever going to happen.

Nope. If he wanted to know what was going on, Tony was going to have go along with whatever surprise James had in store for him.

_He’s lucky he’s so damn good in bed._

Sullenly, Tony wrenched the car door open and immediately gasped when he was immediately attacked by a small ball of fur. The cutest ball of black fur Tony had ever seen in his life.

“Oh my god, where did you come from?” Tony cooed, his irritation completely forgotten at the cuteness that was presented to him.

He glanced over at James, who was watching him with the dopiest smile on his face. “He’s wearin’ a collar, ain’t he?” he asked, sliding a hand into a pocket as he leant on the side of the car.

Tony stuck his tongue out before he turned his attention back to the dog. Sure enough, he was wearing a collar with a gold coloured tag dangling from it.

One side of the disc declared that the dog was called ‘Tesla’, while the other side contained a number Tony immediately recognised as his own cell phone.

“He’s _mine?”_ Tony asked, his voice going up an octave against his will.

James grinned and nodded his head a little, only for the smile to fade a little when Tony frowned.

“You know Howard is never going to let me have a dog in the house,” Tony pointed out mournfully, clutching the dog a fraction tighter as though James was going to take it from him.

The taller man nodded and took a small step closer. “Technically he’s _our_ dog,” James pointed out, tapping his index finger against the disc to point out that there were two numbers engraved on it.

Tony’s eyes widened in surprise but James wasn’t done speaking. “I figured, this way you’d have a good reason to come back from MIT during vacations.”

Hope, mingled with nervousness, shone in James’s eyes and Tony’s heart clenched painfully. Surely the other man knew exactly how Tony felt for him after all this time?

“I already had a reason,” Tony whispered, stepping closer to James and closing the gap between them, conscious that he was still holding Tesla in his arms. “I love you, James.” There was a firmness in his voice to make sure that there was no doubt in James’s mind that he was telling the truth.

A brilliant grin spread across James’s face and he slipped an arm around Tony’s back, holding him steady against him. “I love you, too,” he murmured, kissing him softly.

They remained in each others arms until Tesla wiggled against Tony’s chest, reminding them both that he was still there.

“Okay, I’m not gonna lie, I like this surprise,” Tony confessed, pressing a kiss against the top of the dog’s head.

James offered him a lopsided smile. “That’s great, doll, but he’s not the only surprise.”

The glare that Tony threw at him in response just made him laugh and shake his head.

*

They were halfway to Queens when Tony finally looked from playing with Tesla and realised where they were heading.

He had promptly sulked when James had refused to tell him why they were heading to the gym, before turning his attention back to the dog on his lap.

Tony, being the small child he was inside, didn’t speak to James until they came to a stop in front of the laundromat. In the same place Tony’s car window had been destroyed almost a year earlier, he realised in amusement.

“Come on,” James instructed, shutting off the engine and opening the door. “I’m pretty sure he needs to use the bathroom, anyway,” he added, nodding to the dog Tony was holding.

Brown eyes widened and he scrambled to get of the car before the dog could pee on him, as if the mere mention of the word bathroom would make Tesla need to go.

Coming around the car, James attached a leash to Tesla’s collar, allowing Tony to place him down without fear of him running away.

Slowly James reached out and interlaced the fingers of his artificial arm with Tony’s, its soft but still firm metal feeling pleasantly warm against the teenager’s skin. 

There was a small smile on James’s face that made Tony’s stomach flip with happiness. It had been three weeks since the touch receptors had been installed by SHIELD, and James still seemed amazed that he could feel whatever he touched for the first time in years.

Tony _loved_ helping him get used to the sensation.

Together they headed past the laundromat toward the gym; their progress slowed significantly by Tesla, who _just had_ to smell every single thing they passed.

When they did finally make it, the gym was in darkness and Tony frowned deeper. 

“Did you bring me here to kill me?” Tony asked, glancing at James out of the corner of his eye.

James just rolled his eyes and dragged the younger man through the door.

As soon as they stepped into the main gym, the flights were flicked on and a bunch of people yelled, “SURPRISE!”

The volume was so loud that it made Tony’s heart clench uncomfortably in his chest and he had to fight not to run away. At his feet, Tesla was barking like crazy at the sudden onslaught of noise.

When his ears and eyes had recovered from the onslaught, Tony was finally able to look around and register that the people standing in front of him were everyone he had gotten close with over the last year.

Of course, Peter was standing at the very front, looking for all the world like he was going to burst into tears.

“Did you do this?” Tony asked, looking up at his boyfriend in amazement.

Between his appointments at Stark Industries, working, attending the gym and spending time with Tony, there was no way he could have found the time to plan a party.

To his surprise, James shook his head, a small smile on his face as he pointed over at Peter.

Tony’s jaw dropped in surprise and he turned to face Peter. “Really?” he asked, not able to stop the smile from spreading across his face.

Over the last year, he and Peter had gotten closer and Tony had started to see himself as a mentor to the now-fifteen year old. Tony had even pulled some strings to get Peter an internship at Stark Industries; as long as the teenager agreed to stay away from Howard - no one deserved _that_.

Peter nodded, shuffling on the spot and blushing furiously. “I know you said you didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, but…”

His words were cut off as Tony engulfed him in a big hug. “Wow,” Peter whispered, wrapping his arms around Tony and returning the hug. “We’re hugging now. This… This is different.”

Tony laughed and pressed his face against the younger teenager’s hair for a second before pulling away when he had gotten himself under control. The last thing he wanted to do was embarrass himself by crying in front of everyone.

“Thanks, kid,” Tony whispered, taking a step back and throwing a smile over his shoulder at James.

It wasn’t long before Tony found himself being passed around from friend to friend, each of them congratulating him on graduating high school (he was pretty sure Thor had cracked a few ribs in his enthusiasm), and he quickly lost sight of James.

The older man had taken Tesla when people had started approaching Tony and the eighteen year old hadn’t seen or heard from him since; not that he knew how long ago that had been.

Tony had just managed to pull himself away from Scott, Hope and their new baby, when he spotted James on the floor above them, and he headed up to where his boyfriend was waiting.

“You know, I was up here when I realised how attracted to you I was,” Tony commented as he stepped up to James, who was leaning on the railing looking down at the party below him. Tesla was asleep on the workout bench behind him.

James raised a questioning eyebrow as he turned to look at Tony proper. “Really?”

Tony grinned. “Well, technically I had the hots of you from day one,” he confessed. “But the first time I saw you fighting was the first time thinking about you made me hard.”

The taller man laughed and rolled his eyes, but he made no attempt to move as Tony came closer to him, pressing their bodies together. “You’re an idiot,” he commented affectionately, placing his hands on Tony’s hips to pull the teenager closer.

An unrepentant grin spread across Tony’s face and he looped his arms around James’s neck. “I know I’ve never really told you this, but I’m glad Howard forced me to come here,” Tony said, burying his fingers in the long hair at the back of James’s neck.

“That’s because you get laid on a regular basis now,” James retorted, sliding his fingers under the back of Tony’s shirt to press against the soft skin of his back.

Tony chuckled and nodded his head. “Well, that’s partly the reason,” he admitted. “But it’s more than that.” James raised a questioning eyebrow, prompting Tony to further explain himself. “I was such an entitled brat before; I didn’t give a shit about anyone except myself.”

“Being here - seeing people get on and be happy with having less than me - made me realise that there was more out there than I had known.”

And he meant it, as well, Tony realised with a jolt. He wasn’t being self deprecating in his statement to James; being at the gym _had_ made him see that there was more to life than having more money that he knew what to do with.

Not that he had any plans to give it up, he just knew that there were betters ways he could be spending his time and money than on fast cars and expensive food.

He’d even called Stephen and Bruce off their hunt for the person who had gotten him in trouble for selling essays. They had both been reluctant to accept that Tony was willing to let it go, and it had taken some convincing from Tony to get them to stand down.

In the end, they had reluctantly listened to Tony’s assurances that he didn’t care anymore, and let the matter drop.

Occasionally, Tony still wondered who it had been, but then he thought about all the things he had gotten following the reveal and couldn’t bring himself to care too much.

“I think you’re underselling yourself, doll,” James corrected him with a small shake of his head even as a smile spread across his face. “You’re one of most generous people I’ve ever met.” Tony opened his mouth to argue, but James tightened his grip, effectively managing to silence his boyfriend.

“You are,” he insisted. “Even ignoring everything you’ve done for me,” he ran the fingers of his prosthetic over Tony’s lover back, “there isn’t anything you won’t do for any of those people down there.”

He nodded back over his shoulder to the group of people who were partying on without them. He made no effort to move out of Tony’s grip.

“There’s no use arguing with you, is there?” Tony said with a smirk, knowing exactly how fruitless such a task would be.

James laughed. “No point at all,” he agreed. “It’s nice to know that you’ve learnt that after all this time.”

The younger teenager shook his head and leant closer to James. “You’re ridiculous,” he murmured, pressing their lips together. “But I don’t mind; it’s one of the reasons why I love you.”

Against his lips, James grinned and returned the kiss. “I love you too, Doll,” he replied, pulling Tony a fraction closer.

The End


End file.
